President Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom Chapter – Sonny Fatupaito – Womens Chapter #WAHINETOA

When one throws a stone into a pond one asks what ripples will it transcend. The ripple effect reflects on the very nature of affecting change; how one small stone tossed into a body of water causes a ripple effect with an almost never ending can’t stop, won’t stop motion.

Over the last 48 hours there has been an array of mixed emotions, some see it as a bomb shell dropped, others as a blessing as different sectors of society attempt to comprehend such a paradigm shift.

The Mongrel Mob has always been predominantly male, patriarchal, hyper masculine but with the thought of birthing a women’s chapter it has challenged the very core of its foundations and misogynist views across the board.

There has been a mixture of response from Mongrel Mob chapters outside the Kingdom who are interested in knowing the logistics of such a chapter. Then there are others who have strongly voiced their disagreement. To the Waikato Kingdom recognising their women is nothing new. The Mongrel Mob Kingdom has been holding Mana Wahine events since 2016, empowering women and children giving them a forum for their stories to be told and acknowledging their place in the Kingdom. We have given them this space because uplifting women is paramount in their journey as Mana Wahine, as it reasserts their status and position in our nation, families and communities.

I was asked a number of years ago to put forward a representative to Waka Moemoea I sent my best person forward, and it wasn’t a man it was a woman, Paula Ormsby. Paula is uniquely placed as she stands shoulder to shoulder with the Kingdom’s leadership, yet stands independently in the works that she does for women and children for the Kingdom. In my view it’s not about how long you have been there, it’s about what you've done since you have been there that makes all the difference. Paula comes from an education and leadership background, she is highly qualified in an array of areas, she is fearless in challenging issues that need to be addressed and navigates herself not only on an academic level but has the skills and abilities to ground herself at a street level.

But I think people are overlooking the real issue here, inequality. It’s not about the patch it’s about putting the women on an equal level that makes people so uncomfortable.

Putting things back into perspective and clearing assumptions, our wahine to my knowledge have not asked for back patches but for t-shirts and side patches, so they will not be wearing back patches at this point and time.

Decreasing socialism to increase professionalism, mongrels should worry more about developing their own kingdom for the greater good of their bottom rocker, instead of either jumping to conclusions or mis-interpreting the message of what other dogs or media are doing in their own backyards.

The subliminal word that the media used was Chapter. Chapter was the only thing that the article mentioned that gave the impression to mongrels and community alike that our wahine were going to walk around with back patches.

And now that we know the truth, great leaders break new ground, why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother let me take the pīkaru out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the pīkaru from your brother’s eye.

PAITO - PRESIDENT

Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom

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