Merepeka Raukawa-Tait: We don't need Tyson's tale

I remember seeing the documentary Tyson. I find it strange now that I would even watch a film about a boxer; it must have been because Theo wanted to watch.

When the film finished, I thought what a quiet and thoughtful man Mike Tyson is. There is no doubt he has had a challenging life, like so many neglected black American men when growing up. But it is never too late to turn your life around. The film showed this was his intention and at the time of filming he was well on the way.

But I don't agree with my friend Willy Jackson, media commentator and chair of the Urban Maori Authority, that Tyson should be granted a visa to visit New Zealand. Willy believes he has a positive and inspiring message, especially for our troubled youth. I believe there is nothing significant to be gained by bringing Tyson here to tell his story.

We know he had a rough upbringing. Got into trouble and ended up being found guilty of rape, which he has always denied.

He became a world class boxer too. Good on him for realising you don't have to be a brutal thug and a bully and for making the necessary changes to create a positive life for him and his family.

Here in New Zealand we have such stories too. We have our share of men and women, including convicted rapists who don't deny what they did, who have made extraordinary changes in their lives. They fought their way back from a life of hell and now live with dignity and respect in our communities.

These men and women, some Pakeha and many Maori, got the support and encouragement to help them break what for many would have been an intergenerational cycle of hell. We don't have to import positive and inspiring storytellers. They are in every community, right under our nose. Just this weekend the Daily Post reported on Nigel Dixon 26, who decided to try to do better and make something of his life. Your all-round hard young man. He is someone many of our youth can relate to. He lives here in Rotorua. But he could be from any community in New Zealand. He committed to changing his life and, although it's still early days, he seems determined to make a success of it. I wish him well.

Tuhoe Isaac is another inspiring story. Ex-Mongrel Mob gang leader. His is a harsh but courageous story of one man's journey from debauchery to redemption. His, along with the stories of so many other men and women, are the ones New Zealand youth should hear. Many have come from the same family backgrounds: years of abuse and neglect, lives filled with violence, hopelessness and despair. No peace at all. Years of more of the same stretching out before them.

So what was the trigger that persuaded them to look and envision a future different to the one they were then living? Did anyone help them plan the change or did they "just do it"? Were they inspired by hearing someone tell their story? Did that move them to take action? Was there one significant person walking beside them during this difficult transition period?

I am convinced that one of the success indicators for people being able to achieve a different and better future is when they start to look carefully at who they spend their time with. When you are with negative, destructive people all the time, you will pick up on the behaviours you see demonstrated. With friends who are lawbreakers and violent in the home, you won't see anything wrong in treating your own family and friends in similar vein. We tend to be known by the company we keep.

Mike Tyson should be constantly on the road in the United States, speaking to the thousands of black American men and women who are being trucked off to prison in ever increasing numbers. His first responsibility is to his own. If his is an inspiring story, let it be told in the United States, this is where he can do the most good.

Here in New Zealand he will be just another overseas celebrity speaker earning a high speaking fee, with nothing in common with our men and women who might need to turn their lives around. Let's hear from, and be inspired, by our own strong survivors. They have endured their own particular journey. Their stories will hopefully press the "action button" for some who really want to change but never believed it was possible. There is the added bonus too, when the public hear these uplifting and courageous stories. It gives them more compassion, understanding and love for people considered unloveable and unknowable.