John Robinson: Jim Crow racism in New Zealand

Here I consider the introduction of racism into New Zealand, the similarities with The Jim Crow laws, which were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, and the influences that brought that era to an end – suggesting probable features of the New Zealand effort to return to equality, above all, the continuation of racism and the consistent effort required to assert equality.

This is the first of a set of three articles.  The second will describe the extent of the forces (which I have labelled the “Treaty Industry”) and the divisive world view that has been created, which must be overcome.  The third will suggest some ways in which the current government can help us, members of the general public, to overcome the belief in indigenous supremacy, and establish an egalitarian world view. 

Past struggles to end slavery and racism

Slavery – taking people into captivity where they labour for their owners and have no rights, not even that to life – was once common across the entire world, among varied cultures through many millennia.  Then 300 years ago a major campaign based on a belief in common humanity (no longer division into races), towards equal treatment for all, developed in Great Britain, during the Eighteenth century ‘Age of Enlightenment’.  

It was then that the 1772 case of Somerset vs Stewart prohibited slavery in Great Britain.  The anti-slavery movement thus promised to outlaw slavery in British American colonies, where much of the economy was largely dependent on slaves from Africa.  This was a major factor leading to the American revolution, which began the following year with the Boston Tea Party.  Despite the worthy words of Declaration of Independence (“all men are created equal”), slavery remained a feature of the independent United States of America (the wealth of southern states was dependent on slave labour, and 46 of the 51 men who signed that Declaration were slave owners).

Slavery had not been of primary importance to the British economy, and the struggle for equal rights succeeded.  But it was fundamental to the American economy; the forces for slavery were dominant, and slavery remained for many further decades – until the growing economic might of the northern states along with the increased widespread abhorrence of slavery resulted in the bloody American civil war of 1861-1865.  

The well-entrenched belief in racial superiority that remained in southern states was soon reasserted.  The racism that was a feature of the previous culture was enforced by Jim Crow laws, to maintain racial segregation).  This was similar in many ways to the current situation in New Zealand.  One common aspect is the complete division of people where any, even minimal, drop of blood defines a person by race (the ‘hypodescent’ laws in the USA).  New Zealand law similarly defines two separate races by any degree of ancestry: “Maori means a person of the Maori race.” 

The many years it took to reduce and do away with Jim Crow laws, with the call of “separate but equal”, and the struggle against the associated institutional racism can be seen from two key dates.  In 1957, when Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep nine African American students from entering the school, President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to ensure their safety and the integration of the school.  A further significant event of the civils rights movement was the 1963 March on Washington of more than 200,000 demonstrators, where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech, which succeeded in pressuring the administration of John F. Kennedy to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill in Congress.  A century after the civil war, racism remained alive – suggesting that the considerable efforts here over the past half-century may take just as long to overcome, that the impact of the divisive Treaty Industry will be felt for at least another lifetime; this is a severely damaged society.

Slavery was ended across the western world by a change in attitudes among the powerful; those enslaved lacked the power to gain freedom and the impetus came from among the communities of the slave owners.  A similar pattern was found in New Zealand as slaves were set free by their Maori owners themselves, mostly in 1835-1845 as the new idea of equality took hold and a central authority became established.  Ideas and beliefs certainly do matter.

The Maori cultural revolution

Britain, principally through the efforts of missionaries, brought the concept of common humanity and equality among peoples of different nations, cultures, and – most significantly – among the many Maori tribes which had been fighting furiously among themselves until the whole society was in freefall.  That well-described ‘humanitarian’ colonisation should not be confused with the brutality of other times, other places.  This colonisation was not bringing slavery, it was ending slavery and bringing freedom.  New Zealanders must learn to appreciate our own history, which was fundamentally different from many colonisation experiences elsewhere, and thus to escape the ignorant support for the race-based special rights for ‘indigenous’ peoples recommended by poorly informed United Nations rapporteurs. 

By the 1830s many Maori in the north had become smart experienced businessmen, had visited Australia and become familiar with life there, had served on ships and debated with officers and crew, had learned of life in England from those, like Hongi Hika, who had been there, and had discussed ways of social behaviour and organisation with missionaries – how to escape from the ravages of inter-tribal war and live in peace.  The British agent, James Busby, had explained the concept of one central government when he introduced the suggestion of a Maori national authority, the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand, in 1835 (which soon failed); they understood what was on offer in 1840 and welcomed the peace and the system of law, which had been absent in their traditional tribal culture, tikanga. 

The determination of those chiefs to change from tribalism to become one nation under a central authority was demonstrated graphically at Waitangi.  After just one day of discussions with the British on Wednesday February 5, the assembled chiefs held a meeting that evening and turned up early the following morning – and had to wait until the missionaries arrived and Governor Hobson was called ashore from his ship, when they insisted on signing right away.  The move towards a unified nation was a much-desired feature of the remarkable cultural revolution underway within Maori society.  This was a complete change from division into hostile tribes, with cannibalism and slavery, towards civilisation and peace – from tikanga to universal values of common humanity. 

The uneven rate of cultural change, of attitudes and behaviour, was shown in an 1839 dispute in Kapiti between former allies Raukawa and Te Atiawa.  Te Atiawa had moved to Christianity, with a Maori preacher (Tamihana Te Rauparaha had gone to the Bay of Islands to ask for a British Maori missionary and Octavius Hadfield was on his way at that time), and wanted to settled peacefully by negotiations; their culture had changed fundamentally.  Raukawa remained with the old ways of tikanga and chose warfare.  More than a hundred (mostly of Raukawa) lost their lives in the last major conflict of the tribal wars in the country before peace came.

Return to tribalism

With any such change, the old culture does not simply disappear.  There will be some who look back with nostalgia on the past, or mourn the loss of a previous way of life.  Here in New Zealand, there have been chiefs who wanted to break with the Treaty and assert a previous dominance and total control over all affairs of the tribe, giving rise to disputes and even feuds.  Some who wanted to refuse the rights of others to make their own independent decisions and sell their land, as allowed by the new central authority (the colony and then Parliament), took up arms in an attempt to return to the past tikanga.  The idea of regaining complete possession and rule of the whole country, with a separate Maori parliament and laws, remained among some dissatisfied chiefs.

Such ideas of a return to tribalism and tikanga, and domination by ‘indigenous’ people, have been evoked and built up over the past half-century following the formation of the Waitangi Tribunal, the rewriting of New Zealand history and the complete reversal of the message of the Treaty of Waitangi.  A belief in different races with different cultures and rights has become embedded in the New Zealand psyche.

As well as the many similarities, there are some differences between the New Zealand situation and most occurrences of racism.  Elsewhere a population has become dominated and ruled by a powerful minority, bringing lesser rights.  Here those claiming race-based privilege, the Maori, are a minority group, wishing to reverse the message of equality, and returning to the status ante.   The wish is to re-establish old ideas of tribal and ethnic division, in order to gain power and wealth, to break the social contract holding society together (which is considered in the next article). 

It took a long time to bring about action to end slavery in the USA as in Britain and across the world (led by the actions of the British navy), and the fight against racism similarly will span many decades.  Indeed, the struggle to assert human solidarity is never-ending as disputes and struggles continually result in hatred and a feeling that an opponent is not worthy of respect.  Then a regression to the past may take hold.  Current New Zealand race division has spread over the past half-century, and the struggle for equality will be difficult and long; the need for vigilance has been forgotten and racism is well established.

Dr John Robinson is a research scientist, who has investigated a variety of topics, including the social statistics of Maori.  His recognition of fundamental flaws in the interpretation of nineteenth century Maori demographics led him to consider the history of those times in several books.

Fight back

I and other contributors to the NZCPR website are not just critics of a wrong, of racism and division amongst us, but fighters for freedom and equality.   Over the past half-century, a belief in division and an exceptional indigenous race has become embedded in the New Zealand psyche.  Once some fought for many years to end slavery in the British Empire and then across the world.  This insistence on common humanity, the recovery of a belief in equality, and the national recognition of that principle, is our task.

References

1. John Robinson 2024. Who really broke the Treaty? Tross Publishing. Pages 41-43 

2. John Robinson 2021. He Puapua: Blueprint for breaking up New Zealand. Tross Publishing.  Pages 48-62

3. John Robinson 2012. When two cultures meet, the New Zealand experience. Tross Publishing.  Pages 93-100

4. Op Cit.  Pages 87-92