Personally, I have been on the receiving end of racist slurs and it has kind of made me ashamed of my culture. I always hide the fact that I'm Maori and I've always considered the fact that my skin is fairer, which in turn makes it harder for people to tell; lucky. I know that Maori people have been associated with negative things in our society and I have had people ask me things like if I receive a benefit or If my dad has more than one 'baby mama'. There are so many successful Maori out there but some people only remember the bad. At the museum I had a man point out my daughter's darker skin colour and say "Oh my god, look at that brown baby", screw up his nose and walk away. That kind of shocked me.
I've never really known my Maori culture very well. I always considered my dad a 'Queen Street Maori' but he grew up like any rural maori kid out in the waps. My Dad hardly ever spoke of his culture and my Mum knew the Maori language from her years as a teacher. I tried Kapa Haka in intermediate but it didn't last long. My Dad's side of the family lives about 8 hours away in Masterton and we don't really see them all too often. I feel like so many people lose their culture because they're ashamed of it. I never want Noah or Tui to feel like that. My mother is European, very blonde, blue eyed and doesn't look anything like me. I get people asking me and my sister if we are adopted and it makes us laugh. I used to wish that I was born with that same blonde hair/blue eyed combination and I've died my hair numerous times to try and get the same look. I'm not sure why or how this obsession with trying to be a different 'colour' came about. My mother once said a woman told me at 3 years old that "brown skin is bad" and I tried to scrub it off in the bath so maybe that has something to do with it.. I have no idea. I married a Tongan man, my children are half Tongan, half Kiwi and I love it. I want them to know their Tongan culture, to speak the language, to be able to learn the history of their family. It is really important to me. My husband's second language is English, his family speaks Tongan and they know their family history well. I see it as lucky but for him its normal. I wish I took those opportunities to educate myself on my own culture because I'll always see it as a piece of myself that I still don't know. My extended family has more than 7 different cultures ranging from European to Samoan and it isn't something to be ashamed of.. Its something to celebrate! Diversity makes life interesting and to be honest, I'm tired of people looking at my mum like she's some 'Angelina Jolie'. No, I'm not adopted from Africa and YES, she is sure. Mum had two kids with a brown dude and BAM here we are. Chocolate babes. Just kidding ha ha.. We're more like Hersheys Kisses ;)
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About me
Sarah. Mother. Wife. Daughter. Adrenaline auto injectors are not funded in New Zealand, Please sign the petition to change this. Our family is affected by anaphylaxis as are so many others. You can make a difference!
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August 2016
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