Editorial: Whanganui High School is only guilty of naivety over Joseph Parker issue

Mark Dawson, editor of Wanganui Chronicle

The best of intentions can sometimes blow up in your face.

Whanganui High School saw the upcoming visit of boxing champion Joseph Parker as a great opportunity to engage some of its more reluctant students.

With Parker's Samoan heritage in mind, it targeted Maori and Pasifica boys for a "closed motivational session".

The heart was in the right place - it was about focusing on strugglers rather than excluding other students who might want to get up close to a Kiwi celebrity. Maori and Pasifica youth are over-represented in the school strugglers league, as education data bears witness, so here was a chance to maybe turn a few of them around.

But the corollary of that was to deny others who would also want to spend time with a sporting star whose appeal goes well beyond ethnicity and gender. It was not a good look.

When I first saw the flier that stated attendance at Parker's session was based on race, I assumed it was a mistake.

You could see the backlash coming a mile away.

Accusations of "racism" followed as sure as night follows day but the school was really just guilty of naivety.

Racism has been elevated to a most heinous crime in the popular consciousness which doesn't help matters.

Most of us are inadvertently guilty of it at some time, so perhaps we need to be a little less sensitive about the colour of people's skin.

It would have been better if the school had opened up the Parker talk to all students from the get-go, compiled a list of who was keen and then, if space was an issue, selected those whom it felt would benefit most - regardless of ethnicity or gender.

The good news is that lessons have been learned, and Joseph Parker will be at the High School on August 21 at a session open to all.

Parker has gracefully made it clear he doesn't want anyone left out, and hopefully there will be plenty of inspiration and motivation for everybody.