Editorial: 'Pakeha Party' ignores history

A good friend of mine joked with me the other night "have you liked the Pakeha Party on Facebook yet? Isn't it hilarious?".

Some might think it's funny. That's cool. They are allowed. Personally, I think it's sad.

While I'm not about to launch a petition to get it stopped, I think the page is ignorant and I hope it dies a natural death.

The Pakeha Party isn't a real party, at present it's just a Facebook page but it's already attracted tens of thousands of "likes".

It was founded by Aucklander David Ruck on June 20 but this week it has gone viral and attracted national media attention.

The page calls for "equal rights for Pakeha" and claims it's not racist or separatist. It just wants the same rights as Maori.

On the face of it, some might think it sounds fair enough.

But Ruck and others who also share this view are forgetting our very important history. Like it or not, Maori were wronged in the past and those wrongs need to be put right. As a country, we are slowly doing that.

Granted, there are some minority Maori groups who take the demand for "pay back" too far but the Pakeha Party is doing nothing to help us go forward.

I see it as a breeding ground for hatred and racism and somewhere for bigoted people who don't understand history to vent.