RACE RELATIONS

Te Ao Hou, July 1956, Page 1

RACE RELATIONS Those who come to New Zealand from foreign countries frequently express amazement at the excellent relationships they notice between Maori and European. Yet the maintaining and developing of good relations cannot be achieved without an effort, particularly during a period when the Maori is rapidly moving into much closer contact with Europeans. It is understandable that the question of race relations has been much discussed during recent times. The problem of ‘race relations’ in this country is different from some others, because there are no laws discriminating against any minority. On the contrary, it is the policy of the country that the Maori should have the same rights and accept the same obligations as the rest of the population. Generally, Maoris can play any role in the community for which they are educationally, socially and culturally fitted. Once we have made laws that are just and honest, we are still left with a more difficult job, to be done by each of us individually, of inwardly understanding a member of another race and accept him as one of our own. Sir Apirana Ngata, in a speech to the Polynesian Society in 1947, stressed that not only the European but also the Maori still did not fully accept ‘the other fellow’. ‘It takes a long time’, Sir Apirana said, ‘to make up your mind that he is a human being—longer perhaps than you realize.’ If we were only honest with ourselves and recognized our lack of understanding, the harm would perhaps not be so great. But few people do: it is far more common to accept the first idea that comes along ‘all Maoris are lazy’ or ‘all pakehas are mean’—and judge our fellow men of another race as if such rules of thumb were absolutely true and trustworthy. Instead of making a real effort to understand the ‘other fellow’, who may in fact be a most industrious or generous individual, we close our eyes and remember merely some current belief—sometimes partly right, often mainly wrong—about all Maoris or all pakehas. There are few people who do not—consciously or unconsciously—carry such pictures around in their heads. Research has shown that many such ideas can grow up without any kernel of truth whatsoever; for instance many people think that intelligent people have high foreheads, yet in fact there is no connection between intelligence and the height of foreheads. The notion that a criminal bears in his features the mark of his criminality is equally without foundation. It is everyone's task to put such ideas completley out of his mind and to try understanding every person as an individual. If this is a difficult task—then how much more difficult would it be to reach any reliable conclusion about the character of a large group of people.