White Privilege: A call to Pākehā social workers

By Novice Pākehā decoloniser

Three years ago, I began a journey of critical reflection, what McIntosh (1989) refers to as, ‘unpacking your knapsack’. It wasn’t until I started my Bachelor of Social Work that anyone had challenged my positioning in society. I had never had to think about what my culture was. I started confused, in denial, maybe even defensive. I used to say, “I don’t really have a culture”, I used to believe, “colour doesn’t differentiate us”. Slowly, I started to recognise that as a British Pākehā, my culture had been invisibilised due to the dominance of Western society. My culture is so embedded in society that it goes relatively unnoticed.

Moral panics on the precipice of a revolution

By Mackenzie

Imagine you own a home, ambitious I know, and it catches fire. This is a regular occurrence, your house catching fire, but it seems to be the only house on the street that does this. You often borrow your neighbours garden hose to snuff the inferno and think to yourself, “when will this city invest in a fire brigade?”. You are not known for having the house that spontaneously combusts, but rather for being a garden hose thief.

The issue with “All Lives Matter”

By H.R.

The world is stunned, horrified, and saddened by the death and murder in broad daylight of 42-year-old African American George Floyd, at the hands of police officers. As a result of this unjust death, Americans took to the streets with a message: Black Lives Matter. While the world is shocked, African Americans are not, as this is the fate of many African Americans in the USA. The Black Lives Matter movement was formed in 2013 as a movement that fights for liberation and justice. Its mission to eradicate white supremacy and violence inflicted against Black communities by vigilantes and the State.

Unpopular opinion: Experiencing white guilt is a privilege

By Ian Wright 

The present context of the “Black Lives Matter” protests has highlighted a common response from white people that further compounds the point that these protests are trying to make: it is not about you. It is about centuries-old systemic and institutionalised racism that has continued to negatively impact the lives of black people. It is not about what you feel or experience. It is about acknowledging the privilege that has been innate since your birth, and has not been shared by people of colour.

Boiling Point

By Eunice Faith Amante

For the past few weeks I have found it difficult to move through daily life when one of the countries I call home is in a state of emergency. I have tried writing and rewriting this blogpost trying to come up with the right words or make this somehow fit into the criteria, but I can only attempt to try.