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<\/p>\nIn this extract from his book, Speaking My Language, Mike McRoberts recalls growing up in a very P\u0101keh\u0101 oriented 1960s and ’70s Christchurch, and his gradual reconnection to his te ao M\u0101ori. <\/p>\n
He M\u0101ori ahau \u2013 a simple phrase yet one I avoided for much of my life, initially because I didn\u2019t understand its meaning and, later, because I felt I wasn\u2019t M\u0101ori enough to say it.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re M\u0101ori and around my age, you\u2019ve likely been asked countless times, \u2018So, how M\u0101ori are you?\u2019 The most important lesson I\u2019ve learned is that if you whakapapa M\u0101ori \u2013 that is, if you have M\u0101ori ancestry \u2013 then you are M\u0101ori. It doesn\u2019t hinge on the \u2018percentage\u2019 of M\u0101ori blood you have, or whether you can fluently speak te reo M\u0101ori, or how dark your skin is. If you whakapapa M\u0101ori, you are M\u0101ori. As a friend of mine likes to say, \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter how much milk you pour in. Coffee is still coffee.\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You’re reading ‘How M\u0101ori are you?’, the first chapter in Mike McRoberts’ account of reconnection to his te ao M\u0101ori. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Now, I say \u2018He M\u0101ori ahau\u2019 with pride, hearing it echoed by my adult children and wider wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n
Being M\u0101ori, embracing te ao M\u0101ori, is all about connection \u2013 linking to our past and nurturing our future. But I know too well that disconnection breeds isolation, leaving you feeling uninvited to your own cultural party.<\/p>\n
Discovering I wasn\u2019t alone in this disconnection brought mixed feelings \u2013 the \u2018good news\u2019 was the shared experience of estrangement from what should have been my birthright; the \u2018bad news\u2019 was realising just how widespread this disconnection was.<\/p>\n
Generations of M\u0101ori have felt it, especially those who, like me, grew up during intense periods of assimilation and urbanisation. These were the children of parents punished for speaking te reo at school. Unlike my father\u2019s generation, which had its cultural expression suppressed, most of mine never received it because we were never taught our culture in the first place.<\/p>\n
My parents, Mac, who is M\u0101ori, and Lynda, who is P\u0101keh\u0101, were teenagers when I was born. In the mid-1960s, mixed race marriages were uncommon in \u014ctautahi Christchurch.<\/p>\n
My father had been swept up in the Department of M\u0101ori Affairs\u2019 M\u0101ori Trade Training Scheme, which relocated thousands of young M\u0101ori from rural areas to urban centres, a massive shift that deeply impacted the M\u0101ori demographic.<\/p>\n
Moving from Wairoa to \u014ctautahi, my father left behind his wh\u0101nau, marae and hap\u016b. But he found a new kind of family among his peers from the training scheme and their families. This community became our extended family, there for every birthday, milestone and challenge.<\/p>\n
The Mou, Christie, Kaa, Tehau, Tumataroa, Rahi and Bush families, among others, became our adopted whanaunga. This tightknit group wasn\u2019t about being mixed race or \u2018half-castes\u2019; we were simply \u2018us\u2019, united perhaps by a siege mentality but, crucially, by shared experiences and mutual support.<\/p>\n
We were M\u0101ori yet there was little that was culturally M\u0101ori about us. Whenever we gathered, there was undeniable manaakitanga, as well as aroha and tautoko \u2013 I just didn\u2019t know then that this was hospitality, love and support.<\/p>\n
Te reo was absent and, when the guitars came out, my dad and his mates were more likely to belt out \u2018Baby Blue\u2019 or \u2018Kiss and Say Goodbye\u2019 than a waiata. Discussions about whakapapa, our family histories, our hap\u016b or marae were non-existent. I didn\u2019t even know what my iwi was until my early twenties. I don\u2019t blame my dad or his friends for this; they were navigating their own cultural disengagement.<\/p>\n
Having been strapped for speaking te reo M\u0101ori themselves, why on earth would they speak it to their kids? One of the greatest things I\u2019ve been able to do in recent times is talk to my dad about that and to tell him that I knew they only ever wanted the best for us. It\u2019s a k\u014drero born from mamae or pain but spoken with aroha.<\/p>\n
I attended state schools in \u014ctautahi through the 1970s and early \u201980s. At none of these primary, intermediate or high schools was there an opportunity to learn te reo M\u0101ori, although I could have comprehensively studied French if I\u2019d wanted. At that time, there was very little to indicate M\u0101ori were even a presence in the country\u2019s second-largest city.<\/p>\n
In fact, if it wasn\u2019t for the occasional Christmas trip back to my father\u2019s hometown of Wairoa, I might have gone my entire childhood and adolescence without ever hearing or using a single word of te reo M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
But my brown skin marked me as M\u0101ori to others, even if I didn\u2019t feel it myself. From a young age, I encountered both curious enquiries about my M\u0101ori heritage and the less friendly labels of the times. I once came home and asked my dad what a \u2018hori\u2019 was, having been called one at school. He laughed and then got very serious, very quickly, asking me who had said that to me. I told him a teammate in my rugby team. He said, \u2018Well, if he does it again, give him a thick ear\u2019 \u2013 one of his own punishments of choice \u2013 so I knew then it was a bad thing.<\/p>\n
Despite this, I excelled at school, both academically and in extracurricular activities \u2013 I was chair of school council, captain of the First XV, won public-speaking prizes, participated in drama and even co-wrote our school musical. I have no doubt that if te reo M\u0101ori and kapa haka had been available, I would have embraced them fully.<\/p>\n
Instead, my school days were filled with the standard New Zealand curriculum of the time \u2013 rich in European history and literature, yet silent on the stories of M\u0101ori heroes, the treaties that shaped our land and the culture that pre-dated colonisation.<\/p>\n
Our history books had none of the tales of great M\u0101ori navigators who traversed the vast Pacific with stars as their guides. They overlooked the ingenuity of M\u0101ori societal structures and land management that could have offered invaluable lessons in sustainability and community. And they failed to focus on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the New Zealand Wars or the socioeconomics of colonisation.<\/p>\n
On one of the few occasions the Treaty was discussed when I was at school, my teacher told everyone that if M\u0101ori hadn\u2019t signed the Treaty they risked becoming slaves. I\u2019m pretty sure I was the only M\u0101ori in the class. I was 11.<\/p>\n
More recent debates, such as those surrounding the Treaty Principles Bill, underscore the deep fissures in our national understanding and are often symptomatic of a broader societal struggle \u2013 the clash between a colonial past and a truly bicultural future.<\/p>\n
Imagine, instead, an education system that celebrates M\u0101ori language, culture and history as core subjects. Or a society in which every New Zealander can discuss the significance of Waitangi Day beyond it being a public holiday.<\/p>\n
The emergence of the k\u014dhanga reo generation, unapologetically M\u0101ori, makes me wonder what might have been. And not just for me personally but for all New Zealanders. These young people are the product of decades of hard work and advocacy in education. But e hika m\u0101, my goodness \u2013 what a prize, and how beautifully they demonstrate what happens when M\u0101ori culture and perspectives are woven into our learning systems.<\/p>\n
It would be easy to grieve the missed or lack of opportunity for the likes of myself \u2013 or for most of the country, for that matter \u2013 but at least we can celebrate that some progress has been made.<\/p>\n
What inspires me now \u2013 and what I hope to convey through this book \u2013 is that it\u2019s not too late. Whether you are M\u0101ori or not, there is always an opportunity to learn, to grow and to be part of this ongoing journey. This isn\u2019t just about reclaiming a past but about embracing the full spectrum of our shared future, acknowledging that every one of us has a role in shaping an inclusive, diverse Aotearoa New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Extracted with permission from Speaking My Language, by Mike McRoberts (HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this extract from his book, Speaking My Language, Mike McRoberts recalls growing up in a very P\u0101keh\u0101…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2567,42,4432,43,384,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-238456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-headlines","tag-maori-issues","tag-news","tag-people","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}