No Face
I took a wander through the article, Becoming ‘really Pakeha’ published yesterday by author Jen Margaret and it was littered with thorns.
Jen has a vision of where white people fit in New Zealand and how they should atone for the sin of their skin. She wants separation between Pakeha and Maori in government, separate leaders, separate groups. Please note, these groups will not be equal.
The Pakeha side will be burdened with the knowledge that they have white privilege (go read the anecdotal evidence provided by Peggy McIntosh – born into to a very wealthy and influential American family – for the origin of this nonsense). Nothing about colonialism is good, nothing they built was good, perpetual atonement and the acceptance of this burden is the way forward. Jan ignores the fact that many white people in New Zealand are recent immigrants. I assume they have to accept the Pakeha burden as well because of white privilege. Different cultural background and history than other white New Zealanders? Who cares, you are white. Atone!
One side has a beautiful, vibrant culture that needs to be held up, their language and beliefs taught to everyone. The other side is an evil caricature with no culture and diversity, it needs to be broken down to the ground. A pale, miserable thing.
Jan has created a narrative where one side is good and one side is bad, always, forever.
Her 6-year-old daughter does not want to be in the Pakeha group and Jan is perplexed by this.
I am not.
It is interesting that exactly like Peggy McIntosh, she does not step aside and offer her career on a platter to a person of colour.
She will make no personal sacrifice of her own, but everyone else will have to.
If white people can only accept how bad they are, embrace their shame, burden and guilt and break themselves down, only then can they move forward as a nation of Pakeha. It is what they do in cults, break your spirit down using shame and guilt… after that you are a husk, easy to reprogram and malleable as clay.
In Jan’s world, everything Pakeha has is undeserved, everything their ancestors did was shit and everything needs to be decolonized.
Atone! Atone!
I am puzzled that she is puzzled that her daughter does not want to be pakeha.
I don’t want to be pakeha either.
There is a good article on Peggy McIntosh and her background called Unpacking Peggy McIntosh’s Knapsack.
Peggy ignores the fact that based on her 26 conditions, Japanese and South Koreans also suffer from white privilege.
It is almost as if she assumes that only white communities have prosperous, safe, wealthy societies.
It is almost as if she lives in her own little elitist bubble, but that can’t be true!
That homeless white guy living under a bridge surely has more privilege than Will Smith, Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Kanye West, Samuel L Jackson, Rihanna, Eddy Murphy…