Teenager Janicka Tei set up memorial in honour of George Floyd on Emerson St, Napier. Photo / Supplied
Teenager Janicka Tei set up memorial in honour of George Floyd on Emerson St, Napier. Photo / Supplied
A Napier teenager has set up a memorial in honour of George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The United States has erupted into protests in the past week following the death of Floyd who was knelt on for almost nine minutes by white police officerDerek Chauvin.
Janicka Tei decided to create a memorial on Napier's Emerson St with the help of friends Alannah Hollis and Paige Wihongi, after suffering her own racism in Hawke's Bay.
"Although we are only a small community, given all that is happening in America, I thought it would be nice to show our support here in Hawke's Bay for our oppressed brothers and sisters across the globe," she said.
The 17-year-old Polynesian said she had experienced first-hand the social challenges racism brings in Hawke's Bay.
"We often like to think of New Zealand as a perfect country, where we deny the fact that racism could ever exist," she said.
"But teachers would tell me to aim for achieved, then next thing I'm walking across the stage for passing with excellence and their faces were shocked."
Tei said she invites anybody to add flowers, candles and messages of support at the memorial outside Cotton On.
