Viewers’ views

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 15

Viewers’ views

“Fair Go” Sir, — We have just watched “Fair Go” on TV). The charge of racial prejudice was levelled at the Farmers regarding the demand for passport identification from a Samoan. We have had the same experience with a local store. We are white. New Zealand-born residents, but did not regard the request as being unreasonable or prejudiced. It was sound business practice. We were mistaken for English tourists. — “Not Offended.”

Television One describes “Why Am I Me,” which it will screen tonight, as the true story, filmed as it happened, of an adopted person’s search for her real parents. Most of us take for granted the fact that we know who our parents are, but adopted people do not have that privilege. Annabeth Kew (shown above) is an adopted person who has always had a dee p-seated curiosity about her origins. She wanted to know who her parents were, what they were like, and what personality traits and characteristics she had inherited from them. At the age of 31 she embarked on a search to

find answers to those questions. As the law provides that except in very rare cases adopted persons cannot be told officially who their parents are, Annabeth was left to her own resources. She started from scratch, gleaning what information she could from her adoptive parents and her relatives. When she started on the search she had no idea where it would lead, or what she would discover — whether it would be a happy ending or a sad one. The film crew had no idea either; they simply tagged along with her, filming each stage of her search.