‘We are a violent people’ says Maori leader
Reacting to the statement by Professor Paul Moon that the term Maori child abuse is racist, Ngapuhi leader David Rankin
claims that the term is an accurate reflection of what some Maori are doing to their children.
He says that Maori need to take ownership of the problem and stop trying to whitewash it. ‘I am sick of academics trying
to sanitise our behaviour’ says Mr Rankin.
‘We come from a warrior race’, says Mr. Rankin, ‘but colonisation has meant that we no longer have any battles to fight
and we have too much time on our hands so that violent energy is not used up’.
‘The Government has been throwing millions of dollars into these problems but the situation is only getting worse’, he
says.
Mr Rankin suggests that whanau take a greater role in monitoring their members. ‘This is a problem for all Maori’, he
says. ‘Its time for us to take that warrior energy and deal to these thugs’, he argues.
ends