In the Wake of Terror: Did Kiwi Complacency Contribute? / A.J. Hendry

This piece was originally written in the early days after the March 15 attack.

Today my heart breaks.

Yesterday, I felt anger, shock, disbelief.

But now I find myself fighting back the tears.

Two days before Friday’s attack my wife and I sat around our old kitchen table eating breakfast and discussing politics as is the norm.

We discussed the concerning rise of alt-right politics in NZ and commented on the normalization of discrimination and the eventual consequences of ideologies which promote anti-immigration and anti-refugee propaganda.

We talked about the alarming acceptance of prominent politicians and media personalities who - we noted – have been using these narratives of division, and hate in order to target people’s fears, boosting their own popularity and support.And as I stood to leave for work, I found myself unsettled by our korero.

“This isn’t going to end well,” I said, “Ideas have consequences, one day soon we’re all going to pay the price.”

The words seem almost ominous now, as if spoken in a different age, a different time.

And perhaps it was.

A time before.

Before the heart ache, before the pain, a time before we were confronted with the realities of the terror which had been growing in our midst.

That was Wednesday.

How were we to know, that come Friday our world would change forever.

I was at work when I first heard the news. I bumped into a colleague in the office and heard her mumble something about Christchurch being in lock down, and then something about a shooter. I didn’t pay to much attention. It would turn out to be nothing.

Some crazy with a bb gun who thought he could scare his neighbours into mowing their lawn (or something as equally ridiculous).I continued to the elevator, glancing back to see a group of people gathered around a computer screen in the office down the hall.

When I reached my car and flicked on my radio, I realized how wrong I had been.The news that hit me was unbelievable. A terrorist had attacked a mosque.We didn’t know the extent of the attack at the time. There were reports of people injured, maybe some people dead, but nothing confirmed.That day felt like an age.But later that night - as our Prime Minister addressed the nation - we finally got a full picture of the evil that had been committed.

49 of our people…. murdered (later the number would rise to 51).

That number hit me like a bag of bricks.

It seemed impossible.

Surreal.

But it wasn’t.This was real.And it had happened here, in New Zealand.

Even writing this I find myself in shock.

This happened.

Here.

In New Zealand.

The safest place on earth.

How did this happen? How is this even possible?

How did we fail to protect them?

Some will tell you that this attack came out of the blue. That it was a surprise, an unimaginable shock.But the truth is it didn’t, and it wasn’t.

The rot of racism and islamophobia has been spreading for years.

We’ve ignored it, encouraged it, laughed it away, even participated in it, much more then we would care to admit.

This attack was possible because for too long we have failed to name the problem for what it is.We (Pakeha) have failed to accept what lies at the core of our culture, and indeed our Western civilization.

To acknowledge that our society, our power, our wealth, has always been built off the back of oppression, greed and the subjugation of others.

That at the centre of the Western Empire lies the ideology of White Supremacy and White Nationalism.We cannot down play what took place in Christchurch on March 15th.This was not some lone nut. This was not a “poor mentally deranged soul.”This was the work of a terrorist, fighting for the cause of the “European race”.

Fighting, to “defend” the power and privilege of white people around the world.If you are Pakeha or a white European, then this attack was done in your name.

Think about that for a second.Now think about the last time you heard a politician rail against the dangers of immigration. Or the last time one of your friends shared a meme warning of “Muslims taking over Europe”. Did you nod your head in agreement? Murmur a quiet assent. Or perhaps you went a step further, sharing the meme, or commenting your support? Or maybe you did none of those things. Maybe you disagreed with the sentiment, and instead of challenging it, or speaking up for truth and justice, you quietly turned away.

You see, we are complicit in this.We hold a measure of responsibility.

Our silence has allowed this hate to grow.

Our complacency has allowed the normalization of ideas and beliefs that should be detested.

This – this racism, this hatred, this intolerance – is so very much a part of who we are. It is an ugly, cancerous growth, within the heart of our society.Yet, we do not have to remain this way.

We can change.

We must change.

We can choose to stop allowing ideologies built on fear and division to have air space.

We can choose to build a society where racism and discrimination are not tolerated.

We can choose to commit ourselves to Love and compassion, seeing people as people, not far off monsters coming to take our land, or steal our homes.

We decide the future of Aotearoa.

We decide who we become.

Let us be a people who accept and embrace all people, regardless of where they come from, who they love, or what they look like.

Let us be a people whose primary value is that of Love.

Where people are more important than politics.

Where the needs of the vulnerable and the oppressed, are more important to us than our own wealth, comfort or privilege.

Friday 15th was certainly New Zealand’s darkest day.May we make certain it propels us forward, into a different future.

One built on Love, instead of hate.

A.J. Hendry