Boogie Man
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The image Dark Prince speaks to the inane rhetoric of racial hatred and small mindedness. This work specifically says... the fear of blending culture is the Boogieman..it is erroneous and keeps us separate. It is a social evil, not a protective device and I do not buy into it. This work does in it's darkness admit that the fear is a very dark one..and that it is not an easy thing to dismiss. There are many fears around the blending of cultures. The loss of independence and power being at the forefront. Mistrust of others is foremost in the creation of myths around other cultures and what the watering down of ones own culture might bring.
As a Pakeha child I was all too often made aware that the Maori culture was a backward and ancient culture which had little or no use in the modern World. The retaining of Maori cultural identities and specialities was a waste of time in that they had no use and would take up valuable learning time. It is typical within this paradigm to believe that the learning of Japanese in the 70s and 80 or Chinese now is a much more valuable use of ones time.
Maori were stone age so any technologies they had could not possibly be useful in the most pedantic sense of getting ahead.
Equally the Pakeha culture is viewed by many Maori as a bastardization of their more spiritual existence. Some people who move in the wash between tides, the boundary crossers represent an ability to let go of many of the fears which the ignorant hold onto. They look for a new ground. They are the new genes, mixing, the mongrel, the new dog. It is possible to see New Zealand as a land of new possibilities in the mixing of two paradigms to create a mixed culture, blended existence where the half breed becomes the new bread. This is an idealistic notion but one that is very attractive to people who want a rest from the partizan ravings of the fearful and blighted by hypocrisy and bigotry at each the ends of each culture.
Recently I dropped an artwork off at a blended home in Auckland. The daughter of this couple came home after school from St. Cuthbets where she had been doing Kapa Haka and dad picked up the guitar and the daughter sang a Maori song while doing a poi action dance and we had a cup of tea and cake together.
It is very hard at times like these to take the angry Maori and White rants seriously. The Boogieman was never real, he was just a dark fear promoted by parents to scare the children into doing what they are told. So, the fear promotes by each side is exactly that…control and nothing more valid than that. It is a get used to it situation... happy or unhappy. It is the choice we make on a daily basis.
Cultural appropriation, loss of identity and the break down of civilization are all very much to the fore around this issue. For me the problem is easy. It represents the breaking of ranks.
It creates a difficulty in easily knowing ones allies and enemies and those who are not us might be our enemies. It opens up deep fears of new thought and vague borders. Where fear resides people want clear lines of demarcation. You are either with us or against us.
I was speaking to a young man who was one of the brave few who made it onto the Hamilton ground in the 81 tour. He was in a championship rugby team for his area. He said that as he got off the bus with the other protesters outside the park he was seen by his rugby club and other people from his area. They have never treated him as one of the group since. After 30 years and the obvious righteousness of the cause now apparent he is still one who "broke ranks". I also remember a homosexual friend berating me about a person who had announced he was bi-sexual. What struck me about my homosexual friend's tirade was the similarity it had in structure and reasoning to my homophobic brother and my racist workmate. It is not enough not to be gay, one must not approve of gays. It is not enough not to be Maori, one must not like Maori and it is not enough not to be Pakeha, one must not like or trust Pakeha.
The most obvious statement about acceptance of what might be is to blur the lines. I am amazed when I hear White NZers who do not like the word Pakeha. If the word is a racist put down then I say own it, much like a man in Watts might own the word nigger.
If Maori link the work Pakeha to a hatred of them the most powerful thing I can do is take it and give it my own meaning.
I do not see the work Pakeha as a Maori word. It is my word, as is my belief that I am Tangatawhenua. It is for me to create what a Pakeha is.
It has been suggested to me that I ask Maori what Pakeha might mean. This is erroneous. The Maori language is mine. It is an official language of my country. Common usage will make any word, in any language mean a different thing over years. I do not see the word nigger as a racist put down. I understand the word nigger to mean a black American of a particular attitude. As Maori have leaned quietly into their requests for compensation and recognition so must Pakeha.
Attitude is where racism lies.
If a man does not like Maori then the title Pakeha is a huge positive, not a negative. To him it can be seen as a word meaning "not a Maori". We might all be Kiwis but only a non Maori New Zealander can be Pakeha. It is my belief that within ten years this country will enjoy a Pakeha political party created specifically to negotiate with Maori who we, Pakeha are and what rights we have. Where Maori form who they are and what their political path is so may Pakeha in a specific to Pakeha and no one else sense.
In the same way as Nga Puhi might look down on Te Arewa especially considering Shongi's wanderings Ngati Pakeha might look down on all other tribes and more especially on some...like Tainui for example.
While I am clear that some amount of positive discrimination is required to pick up Maori's butt out of the welfare fire I am also clear that the pendulum must come back into center.
It is no good for me as a Kiwi to be happy with some Kiwi getting a raw deal and Maori certainly have experienced a bum deal. To expect them to get their collective arse off the benefit and get a job is puerile and obtuse. Their countrymen must help them, not because Maori are special but because they are not.
However. I have bought into our society as a secular, democratic meritocracy. I have no time for ANY other person to enjoy more rights to anything than I have. I do not see Maori as more special than I am. I never will and I would be happy to pick up a gun and fight to the death to defend our political structure.
If some Maori in a delusional state like Christians for example want to see themselves as "special" or "better", that is fine. However, when law moves to make that a reality then let's fight.
So, back to the blend of cultures and blurring of lines.
With the prospect of a fight ahead, should the lines be blurred so we are not sure who is Maori and who is not….I think it is not only okay, but essential. It is not until Maori see that Pakeha, while not wanting to be Maori are at a deep level affected by the fact they live in this land with Maori that Maori will understand Pakeha are to be nurtured, not hated.
I speak for the chances and aspirations of Maoris in white living rooms that do not like to hear such talk.
I do this because I believe in equality, not because I believe that Maori are special. If they are my countrymen then it is my responsibility to defend them and the same applies to Maori, If they want my trust, respect and faith, they must defend who I am and my equality because I am not a Whitie or Honky I am a Pakeha and I am not going anywhere.
I use reference to Maori style and thought in my art because I am Pakeha. I live here in a country with Maori. Not to reference them is arrogant and racist. Not to revel in the point of difference that being Pakeha gives me to English people for example is missing out on the opportunity to separate myself from the history of the English I abhor.
This image represents the false evil that is preached about acceptance of the other by the angry decibels of non mixing but it also the very real evil this dogma creates in our society, the catch 22. The Moko Mokai atop the splendid breast of the imperial commander is the darkest melding of each side of a sad gulf.
