Dave Mollard’s Change is Constant: The Crown inflicted intergenerational trauma on Māori

Te Tiriti o Waitangi clearly states Māori have sovereignty over themselves, Dave Mollard writes. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum

OPINION

Based on my experiences, we live in the best country on this planet. A peaceful, prosperous and caring nation, full of natural resources, the home of the All Blacks, Six60, and mince and cheese pies.

By a mere fluke of ancestry, I was not born in Peshawar, Poltava or Port Sudan, but Palmy North.

My connection to the Land of the Long White Cloud goes back five generations to a Welsh miner who decided he had had enough of the class system and wanted a fresh start. He stepped foot on to our sacred whenua in the late 1800s.

My great-great-great-grandfather was allowed to live here because of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, so by extension, I call myself a Kiwi because of this same contract. I am Tāngata te Tiriti.

Te Tiriti is a binding contract between the Crown and Māori. It clearly states Māori have sovereignty over themselves and that the Crown will ensure the protection of all Māori treasures.

Despite signing this contract, the Crown:

• Created a legal system based on individual rights rather than the collective rights system Māori lived by;
• Created a judicial system that locked up Māori who did not comply with this alien legal system;
• Created a property rights system that saw Māori land drop from 95 per cent of Aotearoa in 1840 to 8 per cent in 1920;
• Created a health system that marginalised Māori, causing them to die younger and not drain our pension system;
• Created an education system that robbed Māori of their language and their culture and encouraged them to drop out of school at the earliest possible age;
• Created an employment system that encouraged Māori to become freezing workers, sheep shearers, railway workers and farm labourers.
• Created a financial system that eventually broke the freezing works, the wool industry, the railways and small farms.
• Created a social services system that took Māori children away from their whānau and placed them in the care of people who, in many cases, abused them.

The Crown inflicted intergenerational trauma on the people it was supposed to protect.

I have experienced none of this trauma because I am the Crown.

Not recognising racism means we’ll keep seeking solutions that aren’t going to help us. The root of many issues is a deeply entrenched prejudice against Māori rights, Māori values and Māori culture in this country, and a sense of supremacy about what colonisers brought here instead. - Dr Veronica Tawhai, 2017

Dave Mollard is a Palmerston North community worker and social commentator.