I fell in love with this guy when I learned about him upon the MOANA program. A Maori orientated program that appears on the Aboriginal NITV here in Australia.
Sadly the Moana site hasn't put up the episode of a NZ Maori who has earned x2 KNIGHTHOODS and served in the Maori Battalion during WW1.
https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/11/07/ta-bom-gillies-last-surviving-member-of-the-maori-battalion-dies-at-99/
...but at the end of the program he commentated on how badly Maori are treated and were treated when they returned from the War and weren't given the recognitions 'equal' to other Battalions, etc - "IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY."

And that's where it hit me!
When he said "in our (Maori only!) own country"
he basically excluded any non-maori as having equal identity to being New Zealand 'native-born'.

So this is really the crux of all Racisms/Culturalisms here.
Maori & Aborigine shouting Equality, Treaties, etc.
...and yet refuse to recognise anyone else IN 'THEIR' OWN COUNTRY.

The day the Aborigines and Maori consider themselves as people not 'above' others, just because they were here 'first' and holding entitlement as the 'only' people of such lands.
The more this shemozzle will end.

Nothing against Bom Gillies. Love the guy and still do, despite his recent passing, as I could easily be related to him.

What are your thoughts?
Is the original racism/culturalism based on this "In our own Country" that rejects all others?

The issue rests on the 'Maori' concept of 'Tangata Whenua' (pronounced Fenooah), meaning 'people of the land'.

At the time of the Treaty, the local peoples distinguished each other as 'Tangata Whenua Maori' and 'Tangata Whenua Pakeha'.

These terms were originally not intended to denote the superiority of one people over the other, but to identify someone culturally.

The term 'Maori' in the language simply translates into something like 'ordinary person' as the locals had never encountered non-Polynesians. The etymology of the term 'Pakeha' is disputed, but originally meant anyone of European descent.

Currently, the distinction has descended into 'Tangata Whenua' for all Maori and 'Tangata Te Tiriti' - 'people of the treaty' for all non-Maori.

While Pakeha was originally associated with peoples of British Isles/European descent, it now technically includes Pacifika, Asian, Indian and African peoples as well - all non-Maori.

By shifting their focus to 'Tangata Te Tiriti', Maori activists are abandoning 'Pakeha' (away from its exclusive, historical European focus) and making a broader statement that if you're not of Maori descent, you can never be Tangata Whenua - people of the land.

Thankfully an intelligent post.
Totally correct ME and informative.

It still shows an unwillingness to accept all the Pakeha (Kiwi) as the People of the Land too.

Sidetrack: Are the Aborigines more 'people of the land' that the 800 year old Maori claim? I know the Aborigines have pushed their claim even against Amer-indians, which really upset that North American teepee mob. Only the San could claim older rights when aiming for the overall global consciousness of that title.

Personally, especially the Maori. Aborigines should have a 'Welcome to your country too' ceremony and I think the world will be a better place.
Politics is obviously a British thing, even though France and Italy/Greece don't think so. Germany at least proved the British as so.
Should Lydia Thorpe be banished from Australian politics for not accepting the British truth of it?

I just think that what BOM Gillies said, basically discriminates all non-maori from being 'their own country too'.
It doesn't help the cause for equality and recognition in all things that makes a nation.

Jasin wrote on Nov 16^th, 2024 at 4:18pm:

Thankfully an intelligent post. Totally correct ME and informative. It still shows an unwillingness to accept all the Pakeha (Kiwi) as the People of the Land too. Personally, especially the Maori. Aborigines should have a 'Welcome to your country too' ceremony and I think the world will be a better place. I just think that what BOM Gillies said, basically discriminates all non-maori from being 'their own country too'. It doesn't help the cause for equality and recognition in all things that makes a nation.

Maori activists are suggesting that Tangata Whenua have a fuller claim to citizenship and association with the country, with Tangata Te Tiriti people subordinate to them.

They are demanding dual sovereignty - sovereign self-governance of Tangata Whenua and another for Tangata Te Tiriti.

Do you think the Maori are walking down the path towards where from where the Boers of South Africa have come ?