Dialogue: Time for Maori to end cycle of violent abuse

A personal opinion from the Anglican bishop the RT REV MURU WALTERS, speaking on Whenua, a Radio NZ Maori issues programme.


Kia Ora. My 3-year-old mokopuna - grandchild - rang up last night to talk to me at the same time as the news was describing the killing of a 23-month Maori child who had been sexually violated, had hot water poured over her head, and her head and stomach had been bashed in with great force.

My grandchild must have known there was something wrong when he said, "Granddad, are you sad?"

I cried inside as I continued to nurture my grandchild from a far distance.

Why are Maori doing this? How could Maori do this. What kind of Maori would do a thing like this?

What is happening to whanau, the smallest unit of shared family care centred around those related by blood?

Where is the care from whanautanga, that wider network of shared family care also centred on blood relationships.

This is the fourth horrendous [death] of a Maori child ... The killing circumstances are all similar, but it is the disregard for not protecting whanau and whanautanga which is giving way to something ... which is so frightening.

I have people whom I have maintained contact with who have experienced imprisonment for drug dealing and other offences but are now clean.

They tell me that the problem in such cases is that people suffer from an inability to cope with individual choice resulting in a dependency on drugs, alcohol and sex, living in fragile and temporary relationships as an escape from their hopelessness.

Drugs, alcohol and sex provide the magical potion to liberate them from their inability to exercise domination, a crucial aspect that is lacking in their lives.

Such Maori seem committed to patutangata, the killing of ourselves and others who get in the way.

My ancestors abandoned the custom of killing many years ago.

Sadly, this has been replaced by the killing of young Maori children who cannot protect themselves and cannot distinguish the difference between helpful and evil fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers, cousins and friends.

It is the children who are the sufferers of their parents' and relatives' vicious actions.

The tragedy is that it is carried out as a ritual of dominance and not shame.

A real fear for the future is that Maori are breeding families and capable of repeating the same acts.

The cycle is already so well ingrained that it is almost acceptable for men from 14 to 70 to abuse and rape their own children.

The shame is that there are many Maori who are aware of drug-taking, incestuous acts and violence carried out within their own households but are too frightened and ashamed to tell anyone.

So the acts continue unchecked.

The recently appointed Maori Affairs Minister is absolutely horrified at what has taken place, and he should be.

As the Government tries to convince us that Closing the Gaps will make a difference, I have often heard young Maori say that all they want is a job.

I wonder if the Government could guarantee work for every secondary school-leaver aged not less than 17 for two years.

This would be a positive way for many young persons to start life on their own resources. It might even be a realistic way to close the gaps.

There is a television commercial on drinking and driving where the farewell speech at the graveside draws attention to the loss of family members as a result of a car accident.

Maybe a similar advertisement should be made for mourning the loss of a small child as a result of her family's lack of care in allowing her to get murdered.

In the meantime, relatives gather in their hundreds at the local marae to pay their respects.

In the latest case, an elder claimed that they needed time to mourn privately with the little girl. "At a time like this, the family wants to be left alone.

"We want our baby back. We want to have a good cry for her," he said.

And in my opinion, while it is a good sign to see the whanau and whanautanga gather in large numbers to support the dead, it would be so much better that on behalf of their living they will exercise greater responsibility as guardians of their whanau, especially their little children, in the future.