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.

White privilege is blinding – but it’s time to put the sunglasses on

By The Small Town Gal

I am a Pākehā woman from a small coastal town, a mostly Pākehā bubble of 60,000 people that helped to raise me with love and kindness, complete with naivety and racism. Privilege meant to be rich. White privilege would have been considered ‘reverse racism’. Māori in our town were and still are, the highest representative in statistics of crime, of poor health outcomes and of poor education outcomes. This was discussed in society as laziness, lack of education and lack of drive for employment by the general population.

Unconsciously choosing your privilege in social work

By Poly pantheress

More too often I find myself gazing into the distance, reflecting on where my journey as a social work practitioner will take me. At times wondering about what stance I will take in this often risk-filled and stigmatized profession. My first placement made me realize just where I, a brown and proud Polynesian, would fit or am needed; and that is advocating against a white system in which other brown, Pasifika and Maori whanau are over-flooding in our welfare systems.

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.

Being comfortable with the uncomfortable

By Suzie Q

Reflecting on the past four years of studying social work the lessons I have learnt are vastly different to what I envisioned they would be when I first began this journey. I once aspired to become the all-knowing expert; what I believed at the time it took to be a good social worker. Now as I near the end of my degree I have come to believe the inverse of this, the mark of a good social worker is the acceptance that we cannot know everything. When it comes to other people’s lived experiences it is our compassion that drives us to understand that is the true virtue of our profession. In my own education this shift in motivation has been a result of reconciling with my own privilege being white-passing, learning to become comfortable in the uncomfortable.

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.

“She Doesn’t Even Go Here…” – Mean girls (2004)

By Specter

Aotearoa. New Zealand. The land of the long white cloud. 

Bicultural.

Multicultural.

Accepting. 

Really? 

We often see New Zealand labelled as a multicultural country. With 237 ethnic groups identified in the 2018 census how could cultural diversity be disregarded? You would think that the number of cultures in Aotearoa would indicate acceptance of diversity and a lack of racism. That there would be a widespread appreciation for other people. That perhaps we would have more leniency on refugees and immigrants. That because the number of ethnicities present in Aotearoa, people would be more understanding of one another. But being the first-generation child migrating to New Zealand in my family; I can assure you that this is not the case.

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.