Kerre Woodham: Hone's just a ranting dinosaur

Hone Harawira doesn't trust Pakeha and he doesn't particularly like them. Photo / Richard Robinson

Lordy, Hone Harawira is a fearful old dinosaur.

Every time he opens his mouth, it's like listening to the roars and bellows of a creature from the Cretaceous era.

To be fair, I've only ever heard the comments that are reported nationally - I've never interviewed the man - but there's a central theme that recurs in his rantings.

And that is that he doesn't trust Pakeha and he doesn't particularly like them.

Maybe there are some issues in the Harawira family. Maybe they had unfortunate experiences with the white sheep in their clan.

Whatever the reason, Hone clearly finds it uncomfortable to have Pakeha DNA polluting his whakapapa.

His latest utterance to make the headlines is that he would be uncomfortable if his kids brought home Pakeha partners. "Like all Pakehas would be happy with their daughters coming home with a Maori boy?" he scoffed. "And the answer is they wouldn't."

Interestingly, his racism wasn't gender neutral. He made no mention of what the reaction might be if a Pakeha boy came home with a Maori girl - so we can probably put a tick in the sexist box with the racist one. Or at the very least, the dominating patriarchal bully box.

My dad was an old-fashioned kind of guy and very protective of his only daughter.

He was also born and raised in Canterbury and his experience of Maori and Pacific Islanders was limited.

He undoubtedly had definite views on the type of man I should marry but when I came home with a couple of Maori boyfriends over the years, neither he nor mum were so stupid or so ill bred as to utter a word against them.

After a time, when it became clear I was not the marrying kind, I think he would have been grateful if anyone - black, green or brindle - had dragged his daughter up the aisle and made an honest woman of her.

Perhaps it's because I grew up in Pukekohe, Tokoroa and Turangi that I don't see what the fuss is about having inter-racial relationships. Thankfully, most people don't.

A woman from Waitaki told me her husband refused to have their daughter's Tongan boyfriend in the house but that was because he knew a number of them from the freezing works where he worked.

He said his opposition was that they came over to play rugby and then looked to marry a local girl as quickly as they could to get residency. It wasn't so much that he was Tongan, just that he doubted the young man's motives.

As a parent, all you want is for your child to be loved and cared for by their partner - and I really couldn't care less what colour the package comes in.

As it is, my girl is engaged to a lovely young man.

He's all a mother could wish for when it comes to a husband for my only child and I'm glad he's in our lives.

He happens to be Serbian and the only stumbling block is if they decide to go and live in Serbia, they'll have to take me and the old boy with them. I can't countenance the thought of living on the other side of the world from my grandchildren.

I can truthfully say I couldn't care less where my daughter's husband came from as long as they loved one another. To put limits on your children's happiness seems absurd, narrow minded and doomed to failure.