This painting by Dunedin artist Nigel Brown (pictured above) is a powerful work — the artist depicting how Maori and European might well have responded to one another after Captain James Cook first arrived on these shores back in 1769.
Note the apparent anguish on Cook’s face — and the ferocity of the Maori figure — the pair stitched together with a bootlace!
The artist entitled this work "Marriage of Convenience", a name with all the trappings of impermanence and potential conflict that such a title might infer.
Dare it be hoped that these two groups from such divergent ethnic backgrounds might some day be able to reconcile their differences sufficiently to become one robust, vigorous and united young nation?
That’s the fundamental question Nigel Brown so deftly leaves hanging in the air.
Much has happened since that initial encounter more than 250 years ago. But it’s only now becoming clear that earnest endeavour to reconcile this country’s racial divide has become, not so much a matter of choice, but an urgent imperative.
The New Zealand Government is a signatory to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
More recently, in 2019, a working group was set up to plan for the realisation of those rights for Maori as the indigenous people of this country. That group’s report has now been published and entitled "He Puapua".
In terms of that report what Maori are now claiming is more say in how New Zealand’s commons —its land, air, and water — are managed and its resources fairly shared. And, also, a greater effort on the part of the Government to ensure that the rights of Maori, as this country’s indigenous people, become embedded across the whole body of New Zealand law.
Should other New Zealanders be surprised now to learn of such aspirations ?
Not really — when it’s acknowledged how Maori have been so consistently and comprehensively short-changed by successive governments of recent times across the whole range of state services — health, housing, education, social welfare, and justice.
Maori are now saying ever more frequently "By Maori for Maori" — as if that might be the panacea for many of this country’s ills. Others might see, in that call, the seeds of separation, otherness, exclusivity, when what in their minds the country should rather be seeking, namely togetherness, oneness, inclusivity — a familial unity shared by all New Zealanders regardless of their origin.
And, as well, it’s disturbing to many New Zealanders to hear Maori voices increasingly publicly dismissive of the way New Zealand currently governs itself as "the tyranny of the majority".
According to the 2018 census, Kiwis identifying as Maori then represented 16.5% of our electoral population. In that circumstance it’s not surprising that some of the other 83.5% might see, as a capitulation of their democratic rights, yielding to what Maori are now seeking.
Maori, on the other hand, may well consider such concerns insignificant when put up alongside the devastating impact colonisation had on them. Land confiscated, taonga trampled all over, numbers decimated by weaponry and illness introduced by Pakeha, their culture and whole way of life brought to the very brink of oblivion.
How can Pakeha ever hope to make appropriate amends for such devastating loss ?
Be all that as it may, one reality has to be acknowledged. All striving for satisfactory outcomes will likely come to nothing if the ongoing debate is allowed to become racially polarised.
So where to from here? For this country at this time there seems to be but one imperative.
Reconciliation.
And there has to be no illusions about what that might mean for this country.
In his recently published book, The Power of Reconciliation, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby makes it clear there are no soft options, no shortcuts, on a journey such as this. Reconciliation is hard yards. It will likely take generations and, inevitably, all the trust, respect, and goodwill all the people of this nation are able to muster. Patience and listening skills are going to be much sought-after qualities.
Archbishop Justin is especially challenging in saying: "Reconciliation’s impact comes from at least one party demonstrating that the past need not entangle the parties forever. The group that is more powerful must be the first to begin the journey, to set aside the power they have, and to offer what is needed to the weaker."
The import of this seems crystal clear. In the context of this country’s present situation, the onus of taking the initiative, going that extra mile, rests quite squarely on the shoulders of that 83.5% — this country’s dominant majority. That group, if and when asked for their shirts, must be prepared to offer their jackets as well.
For some, sadly, that may well necessitate a complete reimagining of some deep-seated attitudes — and may simply prove to be a bridge too far.
But if we are truly concerned for this country’s future, then our noblest aspiration would have to be for a significantly enhanced sense of familial unity between Maori, Pakeha, and, as well, the growing proportion of our population now hailing from an increasingly diverse range of other ethnicities.
Already there are some encouraging signs.
Think, for example, of the growing willingness of folk to accept the Maori language as part of our national heritage. The notion that this country may one day be truly bilingual is no longer dismissed as utopian.
Another such sign — the moves already afoot to change this country’s official name to Aotearoa — a beautiful name translated into English as "The land of the long white cloud". Much more appropriate than the name Abel Tasman scribbled in his journal back in 1642 having just happened upon of these islands, plotted around 300km of coastline, then departed without leaving so much as one footprint in the sand.
And then there’s the flag. The John Key government tried to change it a few years ago and failed. Some were opposed to that change then on the grounds that it may have been offensive to the late Queen Elizabeth II, our much respected head of state. But one might imagine Her Majesty, had she then been so notified of that intent, responding not with offence but, rather, a gracious smile and saying: "I’d been wondering why you were taking so long."
The Union Jack fluttering at our mastheads must serve as a constant reminder to Maori of the dark underbelly of colonisation.
And as well, for most of us, our present flag is indistinguishable from its Australian counterpart. Our flag does nothing whatsoever to reflect our uniqueness as a nation.
And finally [and perhaps most significantly ] there’s the growing proportion of those identifying as Maori within the group currently holding the constitutional mandate to govern our country, namely the democratically elected membership for the time being of our Parliament.
Aotearoa is on a journey of discovery. The main concern at this point in that journey has to be in developing a sense of national unity. To achieve that our people must first learn to recognise, rejoice in, and celebrate, our nation’s truly remarkable cultural diversity— and become more sharply focused on what each culture has to offer the rest of us.
For Maori that might be their sense of community, their organic spirituality, and their reverence for the natural world.
For Pakeha, their technical know-how, their democracy, and their respect for law and order.
And for all our other ethnicities what they have to offer as well.
All of us together weaving a unique new tapestry — the tapestry of Aotearoa.
Only then might we be able one day together to say, as did governor Hobson to the chiefs at Waitangi in 1840, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, to the whole country in the wake of the Christchurch mosque atrocity in 2019, "He iwi tahi tatou." "We are now one people."
And then, may we all come to see, and understand, that aroha, love, is the only tie that truly binds — and infinitely more securely than Nigel Brown’s flimsy bootlace!
- Mike Horder is a retired lawyer and occasional writer.
