She was making a general debate speech about the impact on tamariki Māori of repealing section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989. It was an insightful remark that triggered a round of condemnation from political colleagues across the House.
She went on to say that the minister Karen Chhour’s view that the Oranga Tamariki policy should be colour-blind was another form of white supremacy because it erased "the very hue of our identity and culture that makes us whole as tangata Māori, tamariki Māori, mokopuna Māori". Yet more trigger words. More condemnation.
Her explanation about why she chose inflammatory words is important. She said in an interview with RNZ that "when I have used words like deculturation, or alienation or colonisation they fall on deaf ears".
She is expressing a very real frustration that many Māori experience when trying to talk to decision-makers about the impacts of their decisions on Māori. Using temperate language is met with assurances that we are understood and that our rights will be respected. But that very rarely equates to any change or action. Temperate language often leads to dismissal. Being right is not enough.
It is also ironic that in response to her speech, others with a decades-longer record of such verbal infractions called for her to tone it down. Winston Peters criticised her using such language for fear of her taking the country down a "race-based rabbit hole". But she might rightly respond, "please, you first, Matua".
The prime minister said "the rhetoric needs to calm down, big time, across the whole of the political spectrum". This was a thinly veiled reference to his two coalition partners of course. But it is not an entirely fair criticism. Rhetoric plays a very big part of this government’s communication strategy. It is the best way to quickly affirm the core messages on an issue without getting caught in the debate on the policy detail. Which is an excellent tactic if you don’t know the policy detail.
Kapa-Kingi’s use of rhetoric was pretty forceful. She went on in the interview to say that "I was very deliberate ... that’s the word [exterminate] that has people sit up and take notice of what it feels like for our mokopuna and our whānau ... If that’s the word that has people have feelings, and it seems people are having feelings, then so be it."
She is quite right about the word making people sit up and have feelings. The idea of the extermination of the indigenous people of Aotearoa sends chills down the spine. Worse, it reminds us all of those fateful words of a New Zealand politician Dr Isaac Featherston who said it was the duty of Europeans to "smooth down ... [the] dying pillow of the Māori race".
No-one in Aotearoa wants to be reminded of how close the colonising project has come to the actual extermination of whānau Māori at the turn of the 20th century. So much has been made since then of New Zealand having the "best race relations in the world". Many have focused on a blinkered future that looks much rosier from that side of the street.
But it is not rosy on the other side. No-one wants to admit to the political decisions that promote the racism and undermines whānau Māori. So they don’t talk about that. Instead they talk about equality, democracy and colour-blind policies. Those words are acceptable, even though we know that what those words really mean is the suppression of Māori identity, Māori experience and Māori rights.
Politicians may struggle with the word "exterminate" but they have no argument if Kapa-Kingi uses the word "erasure".
Current government policy is unarguably focused on an erasure of Māori experience and presence. The examples are many. The removal of Māori representation from local councils and the abolition of Te Aka Whai Ora is an erasure of Māori people from decision-making.
The removal of te reo Māori policies and names from government departments is the erasure of our language from public life. The removal of section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act is the erasure of the rights of tamariki Māori. The removal of partnership from the Treaty of Waitangi is the erasure of our political authority.
But, as I am sure many will respond, being right is still no excuse.
■Metiria Stanton-Turei is a law lecturer at the University of Otago and a former Green Party MP and co-leader.
