Editorial: Every week should be te reo week

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Ko Parihaka te maunga,

Ko Hoteo te awa.

Ko Ngati Pakeha te iwi

No Whangarei ahau.

E mahi ana ahau i te Northern Advocate

Ko Craig Cooper ahau,

This is a very basic mihimihi (aka mihi) or introduction.

I learned most of it about 15 years ago, and have relearned it because my interest in te reo has been reinvigorated through my wife, who is taking te reo classes and studying an early childhood degree through Te Tari Puna - an institution with a strong tikanga Maori flavour.

In my introduction, I am saying, to more than one person, who I am, what I do, where I'm from and the river and mountain I am linked to. And that I am Pakeha.

There is much more I could say.

I am of British/European descent so my waka could be deemed to be any of the ships that brought settlers to New Zealand.

Or the ship that brought my maternal grandfather and his Brixton-born wife to New Zealand, home from Egypt where they were married at Maadi Camp. Through my wife - who is of Ngapuhi and Ngati Kahungungu descent - I have links to Towai, and Waimate North where my father-in-law is buried.

I am also linked to the Mihaka whanau (yes, Dunn Mihaka is a "cuzzie"), which was the whanau surname on my father-in-law's side before someone decided to start another branch of the family and took Hauraki as the surname.

On my mother's side, there is a marital link to the Curry whanau, which goes back to Rawene.

I consider my standing place - my turangawaewae - to be Kamo.

Maori Language Week wasn't the catalyst for re-learning my mihi - but it is the catalyst for mentioning it today. The catalyst for learning about my family and sharing it with you was simply an interest in who I was, where I came from - something we all ponder.

Having a Maori language week is fantastic - but as a newspaper editor in a community with a high proportion of Maori, I have to say that every week should be Maori language week in Northland. Every Wednesday is certainly Maori Language Wednesday in the Northern Advocate - we introduced a te reo section this year to reflect our Maori community.

Previously, I have been guilty of being one of those newspaper editors who patted ourselves on the back for introducing Maori phrases each language week, but as a New Zealander, my personal view is that this is a well intentioned form of tokenism. Te reo is alive, and should be part of our every day life. Media in particular have a role to play, in helping people learn te reo, and in making it, dare I say it, "normal".

That normalisation also helps break down prejudice. Much as we like to think we live in a tolerant, multi-cultural society, sadly we remain surrounded by prejudice.

The good news is that the reo is getting stronger, which can only mean the prejudice is slowly dissipating.

No rei ra, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou, katoa.