The Black Lives Matter movement is relevant for Aotearoa New Zealand, and if you consider yourself an ally and live in Aotearoa, it’s time to act.
Is the Black Lives Matter movement relevant for Aotearoa?
As an American doing work in Aotearoa around equity, diversity, and inclusion, I’ve noticed that Kiwis like to tell me: “We’re not as bad as America.”
I agree that Aotearoa has done some great things to advance equity - it was the first country to give women the right to vote, and the Crown signed te Tiriti o Waitangi with Māori. Aotearoa also has far fewer gun shootings than America, thanks to better weapons policies. Those are all great things to celebrate, and America could learn a lot from Aotearoa.
At the same time, I’ve now lived here long enough to know that the systemic racism we see in America also exists here, just in a different form. How do I know that? Because many of the stats here are eerily similar to those in America:
Wealth gap: The median Māori household has 80% less wealth than the median NZ European one ($23K in wealth to $114K, respectively)
Wage gap: Māori and Pasifika women have the largest pay gap from Pākehā men (at 18% and 33%, respectively)
Homeownership: The wealth and wage gaps have an impact on homeownership: while ~57% of Pākehā own their own house, only 28% of Māori and 18.5% of Pasifika people also do
Bias in the justice system: Māori are apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted at a higher rate than Pākehā for the same activites (for more: Stuff article and article from the Australasian Policing Journal)
Police violence: Māori and Pasifika groups are more targeted by police - in a 10-year period, 66% of those shot by police were Māori or Pasifika
The article linked above is by Tim McKinnel, a former South Auckland police officer and detective, and he shares more in the article about race and policing in Aotearoa and the evidence against militarised policing.
Health disparities: Māori are 16% of Aotearoa’s population but 26% of all mental health users, and life expectancy is ~7 years less for Māori than for Pākeha (Stuff)
When the gap is this big and this widespread, we know it’s not just a one-off problem; the issue is in the system.
The Black Lives Matter movement isn’t just an important conversation for America; it’s an important conversation for any colonised country. In the same way that America has created a system that disproportionately disadvantages Blacks and Native Americans, Aotearoa has a system that disproportionately disadvantages Māori and Pasifika.
For those of us who think of ourselves as allies, this is a call to stand in solidarity. An ally is someone who uses their voice and influence - their privilege - to stand with marginalised groups and create a more equitable world.
As many have said, being an ally is a verb, not a noun - and the ongoing conversation about Black Lives Matter is a call for allies in Aotearoa to take action.
Tips for taking action as an ally
As we start to look at ways we can take action, let’s do a check-in: How are you feeling? Angry or distraught about the violence against Black, Māori, and Pasifika people? Overwhelmed? Hopeless? Maybe you’re like me and have felt shame that people who look like you are perpetuating this violence, or guilt about the ways in which we’ve benefitted from an unjust system?
If you’re able to identify and be honest about what you’re really feeling, then I celebrate your self-awareness.
Those feelings are all normal, and it’s important to process those emotions and seek support - just make sure that you get support from people who aren’t being targeted. Black, Māori, and Pasifika people are already out there, doing the mahi every day; they don’t need us putting more work on them. So as we get into this, identify the people in your support system - people who can both hold you accountable and support you when those feelings come up. In my case, I’ve been doing a lot of emotional processing with my partner and with friends who are White or Asian.
As allies, we need to do the work on our own emotions so that we don’t accidentally give that work to the very people we’re hoping to support.
Once you’ve identified your own feelings and support system, it’s time to jump back into action:
In our Ally Skills NZ workshops, we make the distinction between two types of actions:
The situational response: If harm is happening (either on a grand scale or on a micro-level), then it’s important for allies to respond to the harm in the moment.
The systemic response: If harm has happened, it’s usually a sign that there are bigger problems with the system we live in. Once the harm has been addressed, allies then need to think about how to change the system so that this type of harm is less likely to happen again.
With that in mind, I’ve framed the actions below in those buckets - what can you do now, to respond to this situation? And then what can you do into the future, to create a system that’s more fair and kind for all of us?
Responding as an ally in the moment
“... courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave [person] is not the [one] who does not feel afraid, but [the one] who conquers that fear.”
-Nelson Mandela
Over and over, I’ve seen that the biggest thing that stops well-intentioned people is fear. There’s the fear of how other people will respond when you speak out or the fear of doing something wrong. For some, there’s even shame about not doing something sooner or not knowing more.
These are valid fears, and so it’s important to acknowledge them. Some thoughts:
If you’re worried about how others in positions of privilege will respond, that’s fair - but remember that whatever reactions they have will be a reflection of their own discomfort, and a sign of the work they need to do; their reactions are not a judgement of you. Moreover, even if they don’t change, it’s important to speak out because there are often others listening who are still be figuring out what to think.
If you’re worried about doing something wrong, that’s also valid. I can tell you now that you will mess up; I still mess up, and I teach on these topics. The important thing is knowing how to apologise and learn from your mistakes. This work is too important to wait until we feel ready - we need to start where we are and then put in the work to learn more as we go. Something else you can do to address this is put aside time to continue your own learning. (See our separate post with anti-racism resources for some ideas on people to follow, books to read, and movies to watch.)
It’s ok to be scared - you can be scared and still do the work. As Nelson Mandela and others have said, bravery isn’t the absence of fear; it’s what you do even when you are afraid. And if you’re scared, imagine how bad this is for the people who are being targeted right now.
Actions you can take now:
Follow Black, Māori, Pasifika, and other Indigenous leaders: The first thing we can do as allies is to make sure that we’re listening to what the people most impacted are telling us. Follow Māori, other Indigenous, Pasifika, and Black leaders on social media, read books by these leaders, watch movies and films that tell their stories. (See our post about anti-racism resources for more ideas.)
If you like someone’s work, amplify it! Share it with communities you’re part of.
If you are able, show your thanks by donating to the person doing the work.
Financial activism: Donate to activist groups taking action now. (Again, see our list of anti-racism resources for ideas.) Buy from businesses that are owned by Black, Māori, or Pasifika people.
Speak out against harmful language and behaviour: As Robin DiAngelo points out in White Fragility, most racist jokes and comments happen in all-White spaces. As allies, we cannot let those comments stand - we need to show that they’re not ok.
Here are some problematic comments that need a response from an ally:
“All Lives Matter”
“I don’t see colour”
“They’re criminals; they deserve it”
Calling them “rioters and looters” instead of “protestors”
Even if you’re caught off guard by a comment, train yourself to always say something - even if it’s just “that’s not cool” or “I disagree with that statement.”
Victoria Alexander has some great tips for how to respond to problematic phrases - see her tweets here and here (and if you use these resources, make sure to pay her for her work).
Especially when it comes to speaking out, I promise that the more you do it, the easier it will get.
(If you want help in learning how to respond to these comments, check out the resources in this post or have your company bring us in for a workshop.)
Show up: Participate in protests (search for “Black Lives Matter protest” on Google or on Facebook to find one in your local area) or provide support for protestors (as examples, that might involve helping people make signs, driving people to and from protests, or making sure they have food and water)
You don’t have to do all of these; you just have to do something. What’s one that you can do this week?
Working as an ally for systemic change:
This is a long journey, and it won’t be solved by holding a few individuals accountable. The best thing we can do for all of us is to change the systems to be more fair and equal, so we don’t need to keep doing this work - we need a reset to a new, better way of being.
Actions you can take to change the system:
Learn about the systems around us:
Follow people of colour and listen to their stories (see our post about anti-racism resources for more)
Learn about how to not just be “not racist”, but how to be an “anti-racist” (see book recommendations in our resource list)
Do a Te Tiriti training, learn te reo Māori (see our post about anti-racism resources for more)
Commit to long-term financial activism:
Set up monthly donations to causes working on anti-racism
Buy from businesses owned by Māori and Pasifika people or other people of colour
Make speaking up a habit - and find an accountability buddy:
Keep speaking out when people do or say things that target others - make it a habit that you always do something when you see harm
Find someone else on the allyship journey who can be your accountability buddy - an accountability buddy is someone who can help hold you accountable for your goals, and who can provide support when you’re thinking about how to respond to a problematic incident or help you process your own feelings. Plan to meet with your accountability buddy regularly and tell them the action goals that you’ve set for yourself.
Advocate politically for systemic change:
Make your voice heard. Advocacy groups like #ArmsDownNZ have scripts and other resources that you can use for writing to or calling your local MP. You can also look for petitions about these causes (ActionStation Aotearoa has some great campaigns).
Vote for change
Get involved in a political or activist organisation that speaks to you
Again, you don’t have to do everything here. What’s one thing you can do every month?
For me, allyship is about hope, grit, and, above all, care.
We need enough hope to believe that it’s possible to change - we have to believe that we can find the areas of racism inside us and upend those even as we work to find the systemic racism and upend that.
We need enough grit to persevere through the long journey towards becoming better allies and getting to lasting change.
Ultimately, we know we must act because we care about the people being harmed, nevermind whether we actually know them or not - we know they’re fellow humans.
We do this work because we want to give future generations a world that works better for all of us.
Thanks for all that you do.
#BlackLivesMatter