'You are not welcomed here': Māori woman target of hate mail from Ponsonby neighbour

Tuesday, 19 May 2020

Rose Greaves was told she was an embarrassment and should leave the neighbourhood.

The week before lockdown, many Kiwis will have opened their letterbox to a friendly note, an offer of help in hard times.

But Auckland resident Rose Greaves received a very different letter from someone claiming to be a neighbour.

“You are an embarrassment to Ponsonby,” it read.

“You are not liked and not welcomed here.”

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Greaves said the letter was the latest in a string of racist incidents.

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Greaves said it was the latest in a string of racist incidents that have spanned the seven years she’s lived in Ponsonby.

She’s been called the n-word and had white supremacists threaten to burn down her house with her in it.

Greaves said she thinks the complaints are about a dislike of her speaking te reo Maori.

The letter was addressed to “the female householder” and was written by someone who said they had lived in the street for 23 years.

“Since the time that you have occupied the residence at Vermont Street you have caused myself and my neighbours a lot of upset to say the least.

“The language and level of vulgar display of disgusting behaviour that you produce is absolutely vile.”

“The ‘vulgar language’ I use is Māori,” Greaves said.

“I think it’s more about te reo Māori than swearing.”

When Greaves first read the letter, she said she was “really angry”.

“I screwed it up and threw it in the rubbish.”

But now, she said she feels sorry for whoever wrote the letter.

Neighbours come to drop off baking after hearing about the letter Greaves received.

“I feel sorry they’re not welcoming and supportive of people of different colours, different genders, different ages, because that makes you a richer person.

“I imagine the letter-writer is an older person who is not used to being around people of other ethnicities, let alone tangata whenua.”

Greaves said the letter-writer seemed to think they could choose who they lived alongside because they were ratepayers.

“Myself and my neighbours have worked hard our whole lives. We pay top rates,” the letter read.

“You’re here because Housing NZ put you here. You don’t pay any rates, nothing.”

That was incorrect, Greaves said: “I pay taxes, I pay rent on time.”

On a normal day, Greaves can be found out the front of her house, welcoming a stream of visitors: friends, family, students coming to learn weaving, people joining her waiata group.

But even on a socially distant day, a mother and daughter from the next street drop by: they had heard about the letter and wanted to bring her some baking. She makes them promise to look her up on Facebook so they can join a weaving class.

“I’m a nice person,” she said, saying she wished the letter-writer had addressed any problems to her face.

“I would have asked them to have a seat, offered them a cup of tea or a cup of coffee.”

Greaves said it could have been that she was being blamed for the behaviour of her neighbours, some of whom lived in what she described as “challenging circumstances”.

She said her visibility in the community might have been why the letter was addressed to her, and she also suspected her moko kauae could have been why she was singled out.

But if the letter-writer thought their plea for her to “do Ponsonby a favour and get Housing NZ to transfer you” was going to get anywhere, they should think again, Greaves said.

“I’m not going anywhere.”