White Supremacy is nothing new to Aotearoa / John Tamihere

White supremacy is nothing new to the world or New Zealand.

In terms of hate speech, one needs only to reflect on the New Zealand Herald Facebook Page feedback over the complaint by Te Pāti Māori to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

The hate got so bad, the leaders at Granny Herald admitted that and switched the comment section off.

In a previous opinion piece, I indicated that the line of politics being expressed by National Leader Judith Collins and Act Leader David Seymour emboldened and enriched white racists to express their hate toward Māori.

At all times Māori people advance their rights in a legal and justified manner.

White supremacists hate the notion that uppity Māori point out the merit of their case, and the unjust way in which a system continues to treat them as second class citizens.

Reality is, you know racism when you have suffered it.

White people in New Zealand have endeavoured to soften their racist practise by saying it is caused by unconscious bias. Unconscious bias occurs when these same people are asleep. It is when they awaken that it no longer becomes unconscious.
They try to soften the blow of their racism by saying “it’s not me. It’s institutional,”

For the record, no building or institution has ever been racist to me.

The people that awaken from their unconscious bias, move into a building and institution and then apply their racism consciously.

There is no such things as institutional racism. There are racists that run institutions.

The evidence of 19 inquiries over 25 years into the Children and Young Persons Service evidences every proposition I have made in this opinion.

Every fact I have listed here is undeniable, and an absolute truth.

Here’s another example.

A white MP called Simeon Brown attacks the Mongrel Mob for honouring one of their dead members at a funeral and causing traffic congestion for a limited period.

He receives a number of threats. He receives huge coverage in the press.

Two alleged Mongrel Mob members are arrested and taken to court immediately.

The Maori Party MPs are attacked constantly on social media with threats, and one attack posted widely through YouTube has a masked white supremacist advising his colleagues that they should “slaughter all Māori and destroy their Marae.”
Maori MPs make a complaint to police and receive no response for 72 hours.

They are then advised, that the white supremacist has received a warning from white police officers.

No arrest. No appearance before the courts - just a warning.
We all must be insulted by this conduct.
As a matter of fact, in the last 100 years of New Zealand’s history, mass murders have been carried out by white men.
In only one instance, has a Maori conducted mass murder of his own family within that 100 year envelope and that was Raymond Ratima.

So the evidence is clear that the white supremacist should have been charged from the get go and treated the same as the brown Mongrel Mob members.

It took major complaints from Māori Party MPs to ensure the police did the just right and honourable thing by treating the white supremacist the same as the brown Mongrel Mob.
Māori want one law for all and want it applied equally to us.

I finish by alerting white people to 3 other heinous crimes committed by white men.

Firstly, five white men – one a church minister – all over the age of 50, use and abuse a 15-year-old Māori girl and are found guilty for running a paedophile ring. They all got home detention.

Had it involved 5 Maori men and one white 15 year-old-girl, we all know firstly they would be household names, secondly their whānau would have been hunted down by crown agencies and thirdly they would be incarcerated behind bars for destroying the life of a 15 year-old baby.

Secondly, a white accountant – a partner in his accounting firm - beats his wife, breaks her nose and receives name suppression and a discharge without conviction.
If he was a Maori, he would be doing 12-18 months in prison and no way would he have been granted name suppression.

The final example is a huge rich lister in Auckland, who was found guilty of 3 counts of indecent assault against two young men and of perverting the course of justice by endeavouring to buy off complainants.

The day he was found guilty was the day he should have been named, but because he is rich and white, he enjoys anonymity and remains unnamed.

Tell me that the law is applied equally and one law for all? Where’s your evidence.

John Henry Tamihere is a New Zealand politician, media personality, and political commentator. He was member of Parliament from 1999 to 2005, including serving as a Cabinet minister in the Labour Party from August 2002 to November 2004.