Robberies, Sentencing, and Pakeha Privilege.

Recently four Pakeha teenagers from Whangarei stole $80,000 worth of goods from  people’s property and there has since been outrage over their sentencing. The boys were given home detention, community service, and had to pay reparations, however many are claiming if they were Maori they would have been sentenced to jail. Interestingly, an article was written in the New Zealand Herald about the basic facts of the situation, and then a second article was written about the outrage over social media and the comments section of the article. I think it’s really positive that so many New Zealanders are not only aware of institutional racism in NZ, but are willing to comment about it to the point where the NZ Herald writes another article about people’s outrage. Here is a screenshot of some comments on the article on facebook:

Yes folks, you’re eyes are not deceiving you, that is five comments in a row actively speaking out about Maori issues and the justice system with not one ignorant racist comment in between! The issue of Pakeha privilege is incredibly problematic within New Zealand. Being white is understood as the norm, and white ways of doing things are seen as superior, logical, and right. This eurocentric viewpoint and the privilege Pakeha have is largely invisible because they are the dominant group within New Zealand due to our colonial history, and thus Pakeha have the most power. Meanwhile Maori remain marginalized. However this recent robbery by these four Pakeha boys has brought the issue of institutional and structural racism into the media. This will hopefully create more conversation about these issues in New Zealand and cause more Pakeha to acknowledge their privilege. Hopefully through more widespread awareness and understanding change can be made.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11638626

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11639591