Racism

Paul Henry’s racist slurs have made me realise that I am not as racist as I originally thought I was.

His slurs, which include saying our Fijian Indian Governor General is “not a real New Zealander” and making fun of the name of an Indian woman who’s surname is “Dickshit”, were offensive to most New Zealanders and to their great delight, made him resign yesterday.

In my opinion, a real New Zealander is whoever feels like a New Zealander and nothing a TV presenter says can change that. For example, my German friend feels like a New Zealander, she lived here for a couple of years on and off and adores the country. She is now living in London but feels homesick for New Zealand, not Germany and can’t wait to come back. Who is anyone to say she is not a real New Zealander, I consider her to be as much a part of this country as I am.

But in saying that, the Prime Minister can't even pronounce our Governor General's name so clearly he's not very NZ at all.

I have never taken anything Paul Henry says seriously because it is never actually intended to be serious, he is a funny person so anything he says is intended as comedy, black humour maybe (both literally and figuratively) but never intended to offend. In fact, I just watched some clips and laughed out loud, a lot. He is HILARIOUS and will be dearly missed.

So I didn’t personally feel offended by any of Paul’s comments and they didn’t make me angry but many of my Facebook friends worked themselves into frenzies of anger saying they’d boycott TVNZ until Mr Henry was eliminated from his position.

I can sometimes be a little bit racist, I don’t know if I could date members of certain cultures but I have black friends and I love them as much as any of my other friends and would never say anything to intentionally hurt or offend someone of any race.


On Friday night I sat on a train going home and talked to an Indian conductor, who, although his English was less than perfect, was very interesting and had good opinions about what was going on in the land of trains and I discovered train conductors get as frustrated as we do with the problems with the trains and how people react to them.

The conductors barely know what’s going on half the time and what the problems are so how can they possibly do anything about it or know what to say to the passengers who ask why the fuck their train is 20 minutes to an hour late or doesn’t come at all.

If I had been racist, I would have looked at this conductor and not given him a chance because he was black or Indian. I would have missed out on talking to someone who shared similar opinions to me but also on learning about something I previously knew little about.


I watched the movie Gran Torino on Saturday night. I’m pretty sure when it first came out it won academy awards and Oscars etc because of the issues it dealt with and the eloquent way in which those issues were dealt with.

Clint Eastwood, who is looking very old and frail compared to what he was in his younger years, is the main character. He is a racist, grumpy, strange old man who is a little messed up after his wife dies at the beginning of the film.

The thing that really got to me about this movie and made me adore it is the fact that although he was a racist old jerk, Mr Eastwood’s character is eventually able to make a change for the better, realising that although he may have had some bad experience with certain races in the past, the future does not have to be the same.

He eventually becomes close friends with his Asian neighbours. He loves their food, he protects them, helps then and even allows one of the children to work for him. He becomes a role model for his young neighbours and they end up respecting and caring for him deeply.


I’m not racist, I’m willing to give people from any race a chance based on how they as a person treat me. But in return, I expect anyone else to give me a chance no matter my age, gender, sexuality or race.

I have had some problems with certain races in the past such as Somalis or South Africans but I am just as willing to give people from those races a fresh start and a non-judgmental view when I meet them, rather than judging them on what other members of their race have been like towards me.