I've recently moved to Tauranga from Wellington and I have been shocked with how comfortable people here are with being the worst. Like, happy to be just enough racist that most of their friends would laugh, but still get annoyed if they called racist. I got sent a video of that quiz - the most shocking things is not that they did that, but that no one called them out. The quiz organizers celebrated them. The other quiz goers didn't put a stop to it. It's disgusting and it makes me very very ashamed to be a Kiwi. Taika Waititi was right - NZ is racist AF.
As someone from the US who now is a NZ citizen, I find all of this so disheartening. I have black family members and if they come visit I want them to be in a safe place. And then shit like this happens, but it's 'just a joke' 'where's your sense of humour'. Just never thought racism was funny, but apparently that makes those of us who call it out 'uptight'. Ugh ugh.
Politics aren't a joke. The guy from ACT literally joked about blowing up the Ministry of Pacific Peoples and he called trans rights 'the tyranny of a minority over the majority'. These are people's LIVES.
'The government you elect is the government you deserve.'
Or to put it more directly, we are who we vote for.
David Seymour would call the whole thing '...just a bit of a joke' and counsel us to just stop being so sensitive. Luxon is too busy trying to be elected to indulge his baser tendencies, but it's fair to say they won't be too far below the surface.
Take a moment and think about what they are selling us -
Tough on crime = tough on brown people
Crime involving rich white people is positively celebrated - case in point Sam Uffindell (for those of you not privy to NZ politics he got elected after assaulting another young man in an exclusive boarding school with a chair leg - not arrested mind, elected!)
Boot camps for youth offenders = we'll beat a love of justice into the brown people
I mean bugger the evidence, it has never worked before, and given they haven't a new idea between them, is pretty much guaranteed not to work this time either.
No phones in schools = young people aren't responsible enough to think for themselves
God forbid that young people learn to love in a world awash in technology when it is better to have them pretend it's 1936.
NZ history should be taught in schools = NZ history began with Captain Cook
We are all one people as long as those people are white, or at the very worst a very very light beige.
We are who we vote for. Racist, narrow minded, provincial bigots convincing themselves that privilege is something other people have.
It used to be that most Kiwis were simply too polite to intervene when stuff like this happened- now they are either afraid or ambivalent. Shame on those dressing up, shame on the quiz masters, and shame on those that sat and let it happen.
New Zealand has headed down some very nasty rabbit holes during and post-Covid. A horrible, smug arrogance seems to have emerged in certain right-wing, misogynistic sectors of the population, who seem to think they have the right to be as threatening and insulting as they like, especially to women and anyone whose ethnicity isn't the same as their own. And the sheer bloody stupidity of voting for the coalition from hell (National and ACT) when people are already watching our health services and education system falling apart due to lack of staff, which is due to lack of money and shitty working conditions, is mind-boggling. Why is it not obvious that voting for a bunch of right-wing moralists who seem to have come straight out of a Dickensian novel, and who are only interested in tax cuts to benefit themselves and their mates, building more expensive roads, and putting lots more people expensively in prison, will end in disaster for all but the wealthy?
As an immigrant to New Zealand what I noticed was the absolutely casual style of the racism. It’s not hate or from a place of malice ( although I’m sure some of it is) but just a blissful ignorance that would be amusing if the topic wasn’t so serious.
Unfortunately it’s a difficult subject to talk about because a high proportion ( too high) of New Zealanders respond with “can’t you take a joke?” or tell me, that as an immigrant, I don’t understand.
I love your work David but I really hate this headline because to me it sounds like NZers as a group are wearing KKK outfits and black face whereas I’d like to think the majority (like me) would find that disgusting. The fact that both teams you talk about won prizes is of course worrying and I have no doubt, like all countries, we have our share of Neanderthals but I do continue to hold onto the belief that that’s a minority.
PS Your comments about Luxon and Seymour are on point!
These people make me vomit, and really angry. They know EXACTLY what they are doing, and they will be the bullies like Seymour - arriving late for maximum impact, daring anyone to say anything to their pathetic white arses. They have been given permission to be like this, the narrative is trotted out via commercial radio, tv and press everyday. They titter and egg each other on in the brave world of social media, and we sit there stunned into silence because we know it will get REALLY ugly if anyone calls them out. They rely on it. We are so farked if National/Act win the election. All bets will be off and we will regress to something unimaginable
This is fucked… has literally made my stomach feel sick… there needs to be laws around public displays of racism, antisemitism and homophobia etc. I was at my daughters orthodontist appointment recently and unknowingly, they had a hitler documentary on, I had to ask them to turn it off… I couldn’t sit there and pretend that watching Nazis in a children’s waiting room was ok… do better is right, the staff, the other attendees- the partners and friends when they were told what costume they were doing?!? … the standard you walk past is the standard you accept!!
I'm American and I've lived in four different countries on three continents in the past ten years or so. I'm actually currently working on moving to New Zealand. And I'm very aware of all of America's many, many problems. But I will say that I've been the most surprised by racism in other countries, things that Americans would organically balk at just don't hit the same in the UK, in Japan. I remember having a conversation with an Australian man in Tokyo who just casually used the n word and I choked on my drink before explaining to him that he could never use that word, ESPECIALLY in America and he just shrugged. It's honestly bizarre sometimes and very disheartening.
Ughhh this makes me feel so....ick and ashamed 😞 I love a quiz night as much as the next person (I attended one in Nelson 2 weeks ago) but I have to believe that if someone dressed in offensive costume I would make some kind of stand - walk out at the very least. Seeing people dressed in kkk or black face costumes would completely ruin my night. I’m saddened that others could carry on enjoying theirs as if this wasn’t totally offensive 😔
Driving to Wellington and back this weekend from New Plymouth I concluded that National and Act have a lot more money for signs than Labour, and most are in farmers’ fields. The “Let’s take back our country” ones from Winston give me uncomfortable vibes, not to mention Act with that smug grinning face and “Let’s end division based on race”. We know what that really means.
I am really worried about what’ll happen if they get elected, and what it tells us about the voters.
Nope I'll never stop .... calling then out loudly, pointing and remarking at racist comments and behaviours that hurt and damage people. Coz if one person points and comments then it gives voice and courage to others who are scared to do it alone and suddenly there are two, four, eight that are pointing and calling it out. And we are not alone anymore. I'm going to use my vote to do the same thing. And I'm going to hope my fears are just fears .......
Can New Zealanders Please Stop Wearing KKK Outfits & Blackface?
I've recently moved to Tauranga from Wellington and I have been shocked with how comfortable people here are with being the worst. Like, happy to be just enough racist that most of their friends would laugh, but still get annoyed if they called racist. I got sent a video of that quiz - the most shocking things is not that they did that, but that no one called them out. The quiz organizers celebrated them. The other quiz goers didn't put a stop to it. It's disgusting and it makes me very very ashamed to be a Kiwi. Taika Waititi was right - NZ is racist AF.
Good to see this story spreading, and being expanded on. Thanks to Stuff and Newshub for giving Webworm shoutouts - and linking through. Appreciated.
Newshub: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/08/kiwis-urged-to-call-out-unacceptable-behaviour-after-outrageous-kkk-costumes-at-community-quiz.html
Stuff: https://www.stuff.co.nz/bay-of-plenty/300954076/men-dressing-in-ku-klux-klan-costumes-for-quiz-event-sparks-outrage
ODT: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/kaimai-quiz-night-outrage-over-ku-klux-klan-costumes
RNZ: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/496212/kaimai-quiz-night-attendees-disgusted-over-group-s-ku-klux-klan-costumes
NZ Herald: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kaimai-quiz-night-attendees-disgusted-over-groups-kkk-costumes/2S7YR2G6NZAGXBGZP7XL25TH3I/
As someone from the US who now is a NZ citizen, I find all of this so disheartening. I have black family members and if they come visit I want them to be in a safe place. And then shit like this happens, but it's 'just a joke' 'where's your sense of humour'. Just never thought racism was funny, but apparently that makes those of us who call it out 'uptight'. Ugh ugh.
Politics aren't a joke. The guy from ACT literally joked about blowing up the Ministry of Pacific Peoples and he called trans rights 'the tyranny of a minority over the majority'. These are people's LIVES.
We have no fucking clue.
Thomas Jefferson was right.
'The government you elect is the government you deserve.'
Or to put it more directly, we are who we vote for.
David Seymour would call the whole thing '...just a bit of a joke' and counsel us to just stop being so sensitive. Luxon is too busy trying to be elected to indulge his baser tendencies, but it's fair to say they won't be too far below the surface.
Take a moment and think about what they are selling us -
Tough on crime = tough on brown people
Crime involving rich white people is positively celebrated - case in point Sam Uffindell (for those of you not privy to NZ politics he got elected after assaulting another young man in an exclusive boarding school with a chair leg - not arrested mind, elected!)
Boot camps for youth offenders = we'll beat a love of justice into the brown people
I mean bugger the evidence, it has never worked before, and given they haven't a new idea between them, is pretty much guaranteed not to work this time either.
No phones in schools = young people aren't responsible enough to think for themselves
God forbid that young people learn to love in a world awash in technology when it is better to have them pretend it's 1936.
NZ history should be taught in schools = NZ history began with Captain Cook
We are all one people as long as those people are white, or at the very worst a very very light beige.
We are who we vote for. Racist, narrow minded, provincial bigots convincing themselves that privilege is something other people have.
M
It used to be that most Kiwis were simply too polite to intervene when stuff like this happened- now they are either afraid or ambivalent. Shame on those dressing up, shame on the quiz masters, and shame on those that sat and let it happen.
New Zealand has headed down some very nasty rabbit holes during and post-Covid. A horrible, smug arrogance seems to have emerged in certain right-wing, misogynistic sectors of the population, who seem to think they have the right to be as threatening and insulting as they like, especially to women and anyone whose ethnicity isn't the same as their own. And the sheer bloody stupidity of voting for the coalition from hell (National and ACT) when people are already watching our health services and education system falling apart due to lack of staff, which is due to lack of money and shitty working conditions, is mind-boggling. Why is it not obvious that voting for a bunch of right-wing moralists who seem to have come straight out of a Dickensian novel, and who are only interested in tax cuts to benefit themselves and their mates, building more expensive roads, and putting lots more people expensively in prison, will end in disaster for all but the wealthy?
As an immigrant to New Zealand what I noticed was the absolutely casual style of the racism. It’s not hate or from a place of malice ( although I’m sure some of it is) but just a blissful ignorance that would be amusing if the topic wasn’t so serious.
Unfortunately it’s a difficult subject to talk about because a high proportion ( too high) of New Zealanders respond with “can’t you take a joke?” or tell me, that as an immigrant, I don’t understand.
Oh, don’t worry, I understand.
Yikes to both those costume occurrences. Truly awful. Feeling some despair at the potential of a Nat/Act govt here. Nothing good can come of it.
And yes you can block a stalker in real life. It's called a restraining order.
I love your work David but I really hate this headline because to me it sounds like NZers as a group are wearing KKK outfits and black face whereas I’d like to think the majority (like me) would find that disgusting. The fact that both teams you talk about won prizes is of course worrying and I have no doubt, like all countries, we have our share of Neanderthals but I do continue to hold onto the belief that that’s a minority.
PS Your comments about Luxon and Seymour are on point!
These people make me vomit, and really angry. They know EXACTLY what they are doing, and they will be the bullies like Seymour - arriving late for maximum impact, daring anyone to say anything to their pathetic white arses. They have been given permission to be like this, the narrative is trotted out via commercial radio, tv and press everyday. They titter and egg each other on in the brave world of social media, and we sit there stunned into silence because we know it will get REALLY ugly if anyone calls them out. They rely on it. We are so farked if National/Act win the election. All bets will be off and we will regress to something unimaginable
This is fucked… has literally made my stomach feel sick… there needs to be laws around public displays of racism, antisemitism and homophobia etc. I was at my daughters orthodontist appointment recently and unknowingly, they had a hitler documentary on, I had to ask them to turn it off… I couldn’t sit there and pretend that watching Nazis in a children’s waiting room was ok… do better is right, the staff, the other attendees- the partners and friends when they were told what costume they were doing?!? … the standard you walk past is the standard you accept!!
I would bet you those people don't think of themselves as racist, and would be offended if you referred to them as such.
I think a lot of countries have similar social and political problems as the US, we're just louder about it.
Welcome back! I hope your all stocked up, just in case.
I'm American and I've lived in four different countries on three continents in the past ten years or so. I'm actually currently working on moving to New Zealand. And I'm very aware of all of America's many, many problems. But I will say that I've been the most surprised by racism in other countries, things that Americans would organically balk at just don't hit the same in the UK, in Japan. I remember having a conversation with an Australian man in Tokyo who just casually used the n word and I choked on my drink before explaining to him that he could never use that word, ESPECIALLY in America and he just shrugged. It's honestly bizarre sometimes and very disheartening.
Ughhh this makes me feel so....ick and ashamed 😞 I love a quiz night as much as the next person (I attended one in Nelson 2 weeks ago) but I have to believe that if someone dressed in offensive costume I would make some kind of stand - walk out at the very least. Seeing people dressed in kkk or black face costumes would completely ruin my night. I’m saddened that others could carry on enjoying theirs as if this wasn’t totally offensive 😔
Driving to Wellington and back this weekend from New Plymouth I concluded that National and Act have a lot more money for signs than Labour, and most are in farmers’ fields. The “Let’s take back our country” ones from Winston give me uncomfortable vibes, not to mention Act with that smug grinning face and “Let’s end division based on race”. We know what that really means.
I am really worried about what’ll happen if they get elected, and what it tells us about the voters.
Nope I'll never stop .... calling then out loudly, pointing and remarking at racist comments and behaviours that hurt and damage people. Coz if one person points and comments then it gives voice and courage to others who are scared to do it alone and suddenly there are two, four, eight that are pointing and calling it out. And we are not alone anymore. I'm going to use my vote to do the same thing. And I'm going to hope my fears are just fears .......