That's A Bit Racist documentary film crew racially abused in South Island city, producer says

Monday, 15 July 2019

Examining NZ's relationship with race, TVNZ's new 2 part show won't surprise some.

A television crewman working on a documentary about racism in New Zealand was racially abused in Invercargill during filming.

The That's A Bit Racist documentary series that commissioned Harvard University research found racism was even more prominent in the South Island than the north.

The TVNZ series, which finished airing on TV1 on Sunday, found 89 per cent of the island favoured pākehā over Māori.

Producer Jane Andrews said the research backed up the fact Christchurch was over-represented in its anecdotal racism stories.

Kiwi director Taika Waititi Taika Waititi has been outspoken against racism in New Zealand.

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Of the 89 per cent of South Islanders who favoured pākehā over Māori, 52.6 per cent favoured the race strongly, 26.3 per cent moderately, and 10.5 per cent slightly.

Producer of TVNZ docuseries That's a Bit Racist, Jane Andrews.

It compared to 62 per cent of North Islanders favouring pākehā over Māori - 25.2 per cent strongly, 22.6 per cent moderately, and 15.5 per cent slightly.

Andrews said the research was collected just before the Christchurch terror attacks, and surprisingly the city had already featured as being host to 'powerful stories of racism' - more so than anywhere else.

The crew experienced racism firsthand while filming in Invercargill.

'My cameraman is Māori and has a long beard. A car drove by and the occupants yelled out the window 'go back to your own country'.

'It was awful. We weren't filming or we could have included it.'

Actor and comedian Oscar Kightley said on the series he had experienced numerous examples of racism during a show in Christchurch which prompted him to stop performing there.

Anton Matthews, owner/operater of Christchurch's Fush restaurant is trying to change stereotypes of Māori.

It prompted comparing the South and North islands in the research.

The Harvard research was implicit data based on about 400 people's reaction times to questions to determine unconscious bias. Participants were selected to reflect the cultural and gender make-up of the country.

Ninety-eight per cent of participants believed people were discriminated against based on race, but only 24 per cent admitted they had done it, Andrews said.

It found 72 per cent of Kiwis thought they were neutral and had no racial bias, but the study showed only 24 per cent were genuinely neutral.

'I think some people don't know how privileged they are and about unconscious bias.

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'The numbers are horrible, none of them are good.'

Anecdotal stories of racism were often heard but 'we've managed to ignore it somehow', so having data from an outside and reputed place like Harvard helped.

She asked researchers where the country stood compared to others tested.

'[They said] the numbers are concerning, you should be shocked, but you're not alone.

'One thing that shined through is most people want New Zealand to be a better place.'

Comments she heard about people's racism experiences would 'stand your hair on the end', but the feedback since the docuseries ran showed 'we've got a long way to go'.

Actor and comedian Oscar Kightley says he stopped performing in Christchurch after experiencing racism during a show in the city.

Racist comments and harassment are increasingly being flagged to the Human Rights Commission, including a significant uptick in the wake of the March 15 terror attack targeting Muslim worshippers in Christchurch.

In the five years to June 2018 there was a steady increase in the number of race-related complaints received by the commission, a spokesperson said. This included racial harassment and comments likely to incite contempt.

The number of race-related complaints, which make up nearly a third of complaints in any given year, increased from 350 in 2013-14 to 417 in 2017-18.

Over the same five-year period, the overall number of complaints to the commission, including public and private sector discrimination on a range of grounds (race, sex, religious belief etc), increased from 4937 to 6304.

Christchurch's Fush restaurant owner and te reo teacher Anton Matthews said he heard 'throwaway comments' and jokes racist towards Māori and other ethnicities all the time, especially from people who did not know he was Māori.

'People say things and then they realise what they have said and it's really awkward, but it's too late, they said it.'

He experienced racism from 'rednecks' during his childhood and remembered backlash when his school - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Whānau Tahi - was opened in Spreydon.

'In the late 90s there was lots of blatant racist stuff about 'Māoris moving in to town'. We were just kids.

'People fear what they don't know.'

He was trying to break down some of those stereotypes through promoting Māori language.

'I'm trying to change those attitudes in a positive way.'