Ihumātao: An Open Letter to the Church / Clare Mercer

Three days ago a group of squatters were removed by police from an address in South Auckland, close to the airport. They now sit at the entrance to the land, building a village on the open road, facing off against more police than I can count.

These people do not see themselves as squatters, but rather the rightful kaitiaki of the land. At the heart of this land lies a volcano, with lava tunnels underneath and a covered crater on top. The crater holds the whenua (placenta) of over 800 years of life and the tunnels hold the bones of ancestors from over 800 years of death. These bones are currently smothered beneath the skeletons of cows and a Volkswagen – the work of Pakeha farmers.

The volcano is called Te Puketapapatanga-a-Hape – the resting place of a great ancestor called Hape. Hape had a club foot and when his people left from Hawaiki to travel to the new land they left him behind. He went to the water and beat it and sobbed bitterly until Kaiwhare, a great stingray, was sent to carry him to the new land.

When he arrived, Hape marked out the new land and called on Tane Mahuta as he went. The path he travelled became a track called Te Ara O Karangahape – the path of Hape calling. Many have travelled it over the ages, and many still travel it. We’ve shortened the name and now simply call it K Road.

Eventually Tainui, Hape’s people, arrived at the Manukau harbour. They saw his club-footed tracks and knew he had arrived ahead of them. The people were very weak and tired but the canoe had not yet reached its destination. It left the harbour and headed south – toward Waikato - and those unable to continue travelling were left behind. Hape took care of them. They remained, and as their strength returned they tilled the land and established themselves as the people of Ihumātao.

During the land wars in 1863-64, the people of Ihumātao supported their Waikato kin. They held tight to their own beliefs of government and rejected the rule of foreigners. Unfortunately for them, fortune favours those with guns and viruses. In punishment for their insubordination, Ihumātao was confiscated and sold at auction to a private family, a move that was later criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal in 1985. The people of Ihumātao returned and were eventually given a humble section beside the now privately-owned land.

The family of the original 19th century purchasers held the land until 2016, when they sold it to Fletchers Residential Limited – a subsidiary of New Zealand’s largest company. Fletchers plan to develop it and build 480 houses. This was rushed through under special housing legislation which circumnavigated the normal protection of Iwi rights through the Resource Management Act.

The volcano, Te Puketapapatanga-a-Hape, will not itself be destroyed, but the historic and sacred space surrounding it will be. Te Puketapapatanga-a-Hape is public. The residents of the proposed housing development may walk to its top. They may bring their dogs, who in turn may dig and shit in the sacred crater. All this is allowable under this new arrangement.

After the sale to Fletchers in 2016, the people began to occupy the land in dispute. They were labelled squatters in what they see as their inheritance. They have fought and fought through every legal route – and have been over powered at every turn.

What will happen to the people of Ihumātao? While they haven’t lost their homes nearby, they will have no choice but to sit back and wait as prices rise and gentrification drives them out of the land they have loved and nurtured for more than 800 years.

I can’t help but ask, where is the Pakeha Church? Many proudly claim that Parihaka was not done on our watch. Or Waitara. Or Waikato. Or Bastion Point. Or influenza. Or red coats. Or guns. But what about Ihumātao? This is on our watch. What are we going to do about Ihumātao?

Many of us throw Te Reo into our language. We hold hui not meetings. We give our (mostly white) speakers koha not money offerings. Increasingly we meet on the marae instead of church camping grounds, standing solemnly as we are welcomed on with a powhiri. We take the finest cuts of tikanga and consider ourselves culturally sensitive.

Where is Jesus for the people of Ihumātao, a people whose entire existence is founded upon principles of charity and mercy for the weak and the vulnerable. Where is the mercy of Jesus for them?

Jesus entered the trenches with the oppressed. He went to them and sat with them. He didn’t pass them alms from a lofty litter or bullet-proofed car. He touched them. He spat in the dirt and rubbed it in their eyes, becoming vulnerable to their infection and exposing Himself to their risks.

I couldn’t sit still yesterday so I went. I have nothing left to offer but my prayers. I went and I sat at the protest line, shyly and embarrassed I admit. I touched the soil and I rebuked the bulldozers that would destroy it. I blessed Fletchers. I begged protection over the land. I claimed peace. I spoke hope. I did it because I believe that God hears our prayers and I desperately want Him to intervene.

I am asking you to join me. Go to the protest line. Pray. I can’t stay there all the time. I am not able to go back today. I am asking you to go. Tell everyone you know. Stir up the prayer warriors. Lead with praise and thank God that He sees this injustice. Meet the people of Ihumātao. See them through God’s eyes and fight for them through prayer. Sit at the boundary of their land and claim it for them. All of this you can do without breaking the law. They are sitting at the junction of Ihumātao Quarry Road and Oruarangi Road. Google will give you directions.

Please, for the love of Christ, go to His oppressed people.

Clare Mercer