Cr Phoenix Ruka made the remarks about Cr Marie Olsen on Instagram on the 14th of November. He is one of two councillors representing the council’s Maori ward. He stood under a Maori Party affiliation and gained 889 votes (the least number of votes of any WDC councillor). Cr Olsen represents the general urban ward, gaining 3564 votes.
In the Instagram post Cr Ruka said,
I needed a quick vent, and this seemed like the best place to do it.
You know what pisses me off most about blatantly racist people – and I know a few. In fact, I have to deal with them daily.
That they will be blatantly racist, ignorant, insult you, make you feel less than, and somehow feel like they are still a good person.
But us as Maori have this thing called mana, and the mana of all people and so my mana and the mana of my tupuna dictate how I should interact with the world, how I should interact with YOU as a racist, even in the face of YOUR ignorance, even in the face of YOU belittling me, making me feel less than, my mana dictates how I should interact with YOU.
But racists do not have that moral compass.
They don’t have the thing that helps them know whether they are doing the right thing with the people they interact with like we do, as in mana, YOU piss me off.
What I find particularly galling about Cr Ruka’s remarks is his arrogance.
He assumes only Maori have mana. Defining exactly what mana means is impossible because every Maori dictionary appears to portray it in a different shade of grey, but broadly speaking it refers to prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, and the like.
It may be news to Cr Ruka but Maori do not have a monopoly on mana. You may call it “mana” (just like you may call New Zealand "Aotearoa") but we describe it using an English word called “respect”, or similar words that may convey a more nuanced interpretation.
To say only Maori have respect for others or for themselves is disgusting arrogance and in my opinion, vividly demonstrates his sense of entitlement and racial superiority.
Put simply, by my definition Cr Ruka is a racist.
I base that on my (English language) interpretation of racism which is discrimination of a person on the grounds of their race, and not the Maori interpretation which appears to go something along the lines of a racist is anyone who says something Maori do not agree with.
According to Cr Ruka, we poor ignorant lost causes do not possess superhero mana powers, so we do not have a moral compass and therefore, are unable to discern right from wrong. Hmm, well my sense of right is that Cr Ruka is wrong.
No wonder Cr Ruka is pissed off – it must be traumatic having to “deal with” so many people daily with moral compasses pointing in the wrong direction!
9 comments:
Well what pisses me off is the apartheid Maori wards that were forced down our throats by the corporate state.
Thank you Frank for shinning a light on one of the many self-righteous truly racist, cretinous, separatists who currently hold undemocraticly appointed positions of power within our public service's.
It is racist to have race based seats but people like this Cr can't see it.
I wonder if this man just feels inferior within himself - for who knows what reason to do with his upbringing or whatever - and that he perceives 'racism' where none was intended? I just don't believe that people with an inner confidence of having been loved and respected from the beginning can be so quick to anger and unable to enter into reasonable dialogue.
Nice one.
Too true, especially mudbayripper. Just yesterday "The Post" reported an apology given by Liz Kelly, a Wellington Council appointed Iwi representative, who had said "disrespectful and culturally inappropriate" (aka 'racist') remarks back in August. Yes, it took that long for her to come to the party, and that separate from another complaint about her "aggressive and confrontational behaviour" toward another Councillor. Isn't such quite typical? Not only of what we've recently seen by some in Parliament, but also what's more generally portrayed by way of 'attitude' in the haka.
The problem is that Ruka's (I don't know the pronoun but I'm sure they don't walk alone thank you) behaviour is precisely what gets them media coverage, respect and votes from the Maori electorate. Why else would TPM, Willie Jackson, Marama Davidson and others continually act that way?
Ditto! Even more annoying is that we have the referendums and even if the result bins the damned things, we are stuck with them for a further three years - absolute nonsense
This country would be far better without racists like Ruka. I am shocked that Te Pati Maori is rising in the polls, don't their supporters realise the mess we would be in if they gained power? I am to emigrate, if not I would be in Aus immediately, what a racist horror we are facing.
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