Anti-racism in a New Zealand context: Intersecting inequalities

 By Hannah Goodall

A few days ago, my mother sent me an article entitled ‘Maori mothers describe child welfare system as dangerous and brutal in new report’. The article details the experiences of Māori mothers and their involvement with social services; more specifically Oranga Tamariki.

With the anti-racism protests and riots currently happening in America, and the subsequent conversations occurring about systemic racism, capitalism and oppression, I can’t help but see similarities to the structural racism that exists in New Zealand. It could be argued that this racism is worse in America, or that it is less obvious and manifests less violently in our country. I think that although racism in New Zealand looks different from the outside, it is still detrimental to our indigenous people in similar ways.