Government's apology for dawn raids 'just the beginning', Pasifika youth say
Monday, 2 August 2021
A group of young Ōtautahi-based Pasifika say the Government's apology for the dawn raids is “just the start”.
The policy saw police racially target suspected over-stayers from the Pacific and “traumatised generations’’.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the formal apology on Sunday for the raids, which occurred under both Labour and National governments.
“Our Government conveys to the future generations of Aotearoa that the past actions of the Crown were wrong, and that the treatment of your ancestors was wrong,” she said.
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“We convey to you our deepest and sincerest apology.”
Members of Ōtautahi-based Pacific Youth Leadership and Transformation (PYLAT), which empowers Pacific young people to access leadership opportunities, attended the formal apology.
PYLAT trustee Selwyn Gamble, a third-year fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, said he had a personal connection to the dawn raids and wanted to hear the apology first-hand.
“My great aunty was one of the first Polynesian people in Ōtautahi Christchurch, she emigrated here after the second world war. She was one of the first caught up in the raids here, she protected people. Unfortunately she has passed away now.
“The dawn raids were blatant Government mandated racism. An apology is just the beginning, there is work to be done, but it is a start.”
Gamble, 21, said PYLAT’s whakapapa “echoed” that of the Polynesian Panthers who recently marked their 50th anniversary.
As a young person working for change in the city, Gamble said he would like to see more “awareness, consultation about places and spaces in all facets”.
PYLAT co-founder Josiah Tualamali'i had regularly written to the prime minister calling for an apology for the dawn raids and earlier this year launched a petition seeking a formal apology.
As part of the apology, the prime minister announced $2.1 million in scholarships for Pasifika communities, an historical account of the raids for educational purposes in schools and kura, and $1m for training courses for Samoans, Tongans, Tuvaluans and Fijians.
For many years, the Polynesian Panthers had worked to “educate to liberate”, fundraising to tell their stories. Tualamali'i said the hope for many was that it would now receive direct support.
In Ōtautahi, Pasifika youth theatre initiative Y-NOT, which recently staged Moana JR at the Court Theatre with award-winning arts initiative Pacific Underground, could also help take these important stories into schools.
Gamble said the apology was “just the start” of a new dawn for Pasifika in the city.
“It’s important that the formal apology happened, especially because many people outside Pasifika communities don’t know how much weight it carries for us,” he said.
Some still viewed the dawn raids as something that only “happened in Auckland”, he said.
“Ōtautahi is still a racist city and New Zealand is still in the process of decolonisation.
“There are fundamentals in our education which need to change. Many still need to learn about the dawn raids. Education is key to the way we unlock and change the way we do things.”
New Zealand needed to “truly understand” its obligations as a pacific nation.
“The word Pacific means peaceful, and we need to be peaceful. We have to show those words mean something.”
After witnessing the formal apology, Gamble said he was pleased to attend.
“I felt extreme pride in the resilience of our Pasifika communities and that our mana had been restored.”