Run away from all Maori and Polynesians

Im sure most, if not all Auckland University students are aware of the racial profiling that happened a few weeks ago on the University of Auckland Overheard page, in regards to the attacks against Asian ethnicities in the Auckland CBD. A couple of weeks ago, there was an article released about the sudden increase of violent attacks against Asians. While the article did not call out any ethnicities behind the attacks, there was one guy who decided to be the first to inform us of who it REALLY was.

“If you see a pack of young Maori/Polynesian males, be prepared to sprint". Not only did his claims include racial profiling, stereotyping, racism at it’s finest, but he even decided to use political correctness as part of his argument. "In Western culture it's not politically correct to profile, but it really is better to be safe than sorry." He further argues that being politically correct is not worth it when you have brain damage. However, what he failed to realise was that the original article did not mention any suspected ethnicities behind the attacks. When he was called out on this, it still didn’t change his perspective and his opinions.

Stereotypes played a huge role in how he formed his opinions on Maori/Polynesian ethnicities. In mainstream media Maori are represented through negative stereotypes and are seen as the other, since they are the indigenous population in New Zealand. The problem with the lack of representation for Maori is that society is only fed with these recycled ideas of Maori, which usually have negative ideas and negative stereotypes attached to them.  Because of these stereotypes, it leads to racism and racial profiling. Which is what the lad did when he was creating his inappropriate, offensive and unnecessary argument on facebook. How else would he get these ideas of Maori and Polynesians being the ones behind the attacks, he took what he knows of Maori and Polynesians and used that to “defend” and “save” Asians. He didn’t even stop to think that a person's actions is not based on what their ethnicities are, he formed his arguments over stereotypes, racism and racial profiling.

However, I am not saying that because of mainstream media he had the right to say what he said. There is no valid excuse to why he did that, he was simply uneducated. Looking out for your own ethnicity, by bashing and putting down another, is not solving the situation.

To generalise two different ethnicities and claim that ALL Maori and ALL Polynesians are scary violent assaulters, is a brave statement to post when there was no proof that what he was claiming was true. Not only was he offending so many people, upsetting and hurting their feelings, but he was parading around this ridiculous idea of Maori and Polynesian, which had the potential to influence others into thinking the same things.

Remember kids, if you see a Maori or Polynesian make sure to cross the road or else you will DEFINITELY end up with brain damage or dead.