Students stand up for race unity

//For Immediate Release//

Students stand up for race unity

Auckland, New Zealand (Monday 11 April 2016)

Students from around the country have called on all New Zealanders to combat racism and stand together for race unity.

On Saturday night, Te Ariki Te Puni of Palmerston North Boys High School won the National Final of the 2016 Race Unity Speech Awards. Mr Te Puni challenged us to reflect on the true meaning of our national anthem:

“We proudly stand hand on heart and recite the words…. ‘God of Nations at thy feet, in the bonds of love we meet…’

“Yet, only last year, a professional Fijian rugby player left the field in tears after being racially taunted and verbally abused by a NZ spectator.”

Mr Te Puni went on to say:

“…the choice is ours, do we stand up for racial unity and build a country of rich diversity or sit by silently and watch it dissipate?

“ ‘Let our cause be just and right, God defend New Zealand!’ ”

Following his speech, nine students from Palmerston North Boys High School shook the hall with their haka.

The 2016 Race Unity Speech Awards were contested by over 150 high school students from 14 different regions of New Zealand. All six national finalists spoke with eloquence and conviction on the kaupapa: “Stand up for race unity – don’t be a bystander! Tū mai, tautokona te kotahitanga o ngā iwi – kaua e tū atu”

Runner up Polaiu’amea Kirifi of Francis Douglas Memorial College (New Plymouth) spoke of how we can create great strength through unity:

“…see the true strength that holds the whole fale together? That’s the ‘afa – plaited together coconut fibres, that when woven tightly can hold together something as large as a fale.

…

“In my lifetime I would like to see an ‘afa being woven tightly around our differences, holding us together with love, forgiveness and belief, in unity.”

Later in the evening, Mr Kirifi performed the All Blacks’ haka ‘Kapo o Pango’ to acknowledge Mr Te Puni and his win.

Several of the finalists spoke about their own experiences of racism in New Zealand. Year 11 student Rytasha Sekhon of Hastings Girls High called us to support the targets of racism:

“You can help by speaking up and saying ‘insult her, and you insult me’….

“I was called ‘butter chicken’ at primary and the taunts got louder at lunchtime. Many a classmate would stand by and watch me getting taunted. I wanted to say to them ‘take my hand, stand with me’…. Although my Sikh name Kaur means lioness, I still need someone to have my back, to move from being the bystander to the stand-by-her.”

Immediately before the National Finals, an all-day Conference was attended by the finalists and semi-finalists, their supporters, and other interested youth and adults. The Conference included presentations on the kaupapa of race unity, artistic workshops and practical discussions of how young people can transform race relations in New Zealand. Many participants pledged to take specific actions to promote race unity.

The Race Unity Speech Awards were initiated by the New Zealand Baha’i Community in 2001, following the death of race relations activist Hedi Moani. The abolition of racial prejudice is a core aim of the Baha’i Faith, and the oneness of humanity is one of the Faith’s principal teachings.

The sponsors of the 2016 Race Unity Speech Awards were the New Zealand Police (principal sponsor), the Human Rights Commission, the New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils, the Office of Ethnic Communities, Speech New Zealand and the Hedi Moani Charitable Trust.

2016_speech__Te_Ariki_Te_Puni_Palmerston_North_Boys_High.pdf

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