Māori media and Māori leaders have hearteningly acknowledged Luxon's brief tribute in both te reo and English. Well, they would, wouldn't they? He is the leader of the National Party and the Opposition. They would expect nothing less and, although not a te reo speaker, he did the right thing. They appreciated and respected his effort.
Not so, many other New Zealanders. They got their knickers in a twist. Straight to social media to vent their spleen. Sadly, for Luxon, it appears that many are National Party supporters. Make that 'were' because now they're not. They didn't like Luxon using te reo. They found it offensive. I saw one post accusing him of "sucking up to Māori".
Luxon was quoted by the New Zealand Herald as saying: "I condemn racism outright," after his Facebook post to Hawke and use of te reo in the tribute attracted both praise and criticism from his followers.
"With respect to my post, I really wanted to acknowledge Joe, who I think has made a massive contribution to New Zealand and te reo."
In response to questions on the issue, he added: "What I'm saying to you is I want to be able to use te reo. That's my choice."
From my perspective, I would have preferred Luxon to go further and respond to the criticism levelled at him by saying: "As the leader of the National Party, expecting to be Prime Minister next year, I will embrace Māori culture and customs, including the use of te reo when I can".
I believe he should leave people in no doubt that he has respect for Māori and their customs, and warms to seeing them demonstrated and used daily in Aotearoa.
In my opinion, Luxon should have made clear that racist slurs and racist behaviour have no place in the National Party or New Zealand society. He should have made it clear to mainstream media that the National Party does not harbour racists.
Generally speaking, I find it rather sad that so many, mostly older Pākehā, live their lives in fear. What else can it be? What's to fear from seeing and hearing te reo being spoken in Aotearoa?
Māori are speaking their beautiful language in the land of their ancestors, and Pākehā are delighting in speaking it too. They are flocking to te reo classes around the country. The language was nearly wiped out, supported by the ignorance of previous governments over the past 150 years.
I suspect, seeing and hearing te reo everywhere, that every day can be confronting to those people who are unaware of what has been happening in New Zealand over the past 50 years.
These people enjoy spending their lives looking in the rear vision mirror. I understand the need to want to hold fast to everything familiar. To the customs and values that made them who they are. But times are changing and the change is exponential. It is happening all around us. It's time to move over and share in what was previously a privileged mono-cultural society.
Racists have been in New Zealand since the very first settlers started arriving. I encounter them every day. Our conversations are always brief. I don't allow myself to spend my time and energy with negative, racist people.
Their vision of the future looks nothing like mine. Theirs is minuscule and backwards-looking. Mine is larger than life, seeing future generations living life out loud. Respecting differences, embracing all who currently reside here and welcoming those who want to make New Zealand their home. The future belongs to those who don't want to live in the shadow of a bygone era. Who wants to live there?
Luxon is promising a new bold government next year. I believe he could start by being bold himself. Call out the racists at every opportunity. Tell all New Zealanders the National Party doesn't need supporters who denigrate the culture, customs and language of Māori. Tell them the National Party is better than that. That they will govern on behalf of, and for the benefit, of all New Zealanders.
