NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson accuses police of racial profiling, 'systemic racism'

Nicholas Jones
By Nicholas Jones
Investigative Reporter·NZ Herald·
7 Jun, 2018 11:29 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Dean Purcell.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Dean Purcell.

The co-leader of the Green Party says her brother is regularly racially profiled by the police and she is followed in shops.

Marama Davidson said her 42-year-old brother still gets pulled over for "random checks", and cited racial profiling as a reason to not arm the police.

She herself had often been followed when in shops by staff, particularly chemists. Davidson said her brother had been pulled over by police his whole adult life, including recently.

"He was with his Pākeha friend, she freaked out at him being pulled over, he told her this was nothing new. She had no idea, was blown away," Davidson tweeted.

"My bro is a 42-year-old professional and community leader, but brown and gruff looking. This started when he was a teen."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Davidson added a hashtag to the social media posts - #DrivingWhileBrown.

"My bro is privileged enough to have the tools to respond politely to ongoing, systemic racism. The burden falls on him to be proven innocent. For others of our people, they can't live up to this burden…if we had armed cops, who knows…"

I was supposed to add comment. This has happened to me often. Being followed in chemists in particular. & just over the weekend was talking with my brother who still gets pulled over for 'random checks' in his car. His whole life, regularly, often, without fail #DrivingWhileBrown

— Marama Davidson MP (@MaramaDavidson) June 7, 2018

Davidson told the Herald there was ongoing research into racial profiling, and police themselves recognised the issue of "unconscious bias".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is ongoing and it is deeply rooted. And it is quite challenging to address."

Davidson said a way to change that was through projects like working with trainees at the Police College to discuss human rights and discrimination issues. However, a much wider effort was needed across all Government departments and agencies.

"There has been some positive signs. But it is probably going to take at least a generation of sustained work at all levels to stamp out and have a zero tolerance towards racial bias and profiling."

On her comment about not arming the police, Davidson said not everyone on the receiving end of racial profiling would behave calmly or politely, and that risked escalation.

Discover more

New Zealand|education

Teacher called Fox's son 'predator'

01 Jun 08:51 PM
Kahu

The police, the cocaine bust and the racism row

24 Feb 04:00 PM
New Zealand|politics

Police respond to racial profiling claims

08 Jun 02:49 AM
New Zealand

Racist NZ: Auckland woman told to 'go back to China'

15 Jun 04:01 AM

"If we were to add into that equation guns, as we have seen in the States…it is people of colour and people on lower incomes who will be harmed in that interaction. We are fortunate we are not in that situation yet."

Davidson made the comments after linking to a Radio NZ story about Vuyiswa Tulelo, the South African High Commissioner to New Zealand, who said she was followed by a security guard every time she went to Countdown.

Davidson is not the only political party leader to speak out against racial profiling. When in Parliament Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox spoke of racial discrimination her son had suffered at school.

Fox has also spoken about how her daughters are regularly followed when they enter shops.

In February the Herald on Sunday revealed a young man caught with cocaine had escaped charges after an unprecedented exploration of racial bias by the country's second-highest court.

The man's legal team had argued police had no basis to approach the man's tidy, registered and warranted vehicle, and had only done so because its occupants were Pacific New Zealanders.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Although charges were later dismissed, the Court of Appeal didn't rule on whether racial profiling occurred. However, its judgment was the first to explicitly recognise racial profiling may take place among police, and well beyond.

"There is ample research which shows that unconscious bias exists, though [for those not negatively affected] it is rarely obvious and easily overlooked," the court stated. "Few who discriminate on the basis of race will admit it. Some will prefer to hide it. Most will be unaware of it and so will find the suggestion they do so insulting."

In response to the case, police strongly rejected the racial profiling allegation, but said training to combat "unconscious bias" was being stepped up.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush in 2015 said Māori over-representation in offender statistics could be partly explained by unconscious bias among officers.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Politics

Exclusive: National loses control of cost of living to Labour in new survey

18 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Letters to the Editor

Letters: New vape rules leave much still to be addressed

18 Jun 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Morning quiz: A group of mice is called what?

18 Jun 05:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Exclusive: National loses control of cost of living to Labour in new survey

Exclusive: National loses control of cost of living to Labour in new survey

18 Jun 05:00 PM

Inflation is the top issue for Kiwis and they think Labour is best to keep prices down.

Premium
Letters: New vape rules leave much still to be addressed

Letters: New vape rules leave much still to be addressed

18 Jun 05:00 PM
Morning quiz: A group of mice is called what?

Morning quiz: A group of mice is called what?

18 Jun 05:00 PM
'Compelled to stay': More teachers working past 65 amid shortages

'Compelled to stay': More teachers working past 65 amid shortages

18 Jun 05:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP