Relaxing at home, warm and dry, watching the All Blacks vs Italy rugby test on the telly last weekend, I was jolted from my lethargy by an attempt by SkyTV commentator Murray Mexted to inject some human interest to the rather dreary match. The camera picked up three cheering spectators clad and face-painted in All Blacks colours and obviously descended from East Asian parentage.
“Good to see they’re on our side,” or something to that effect, said Murray.
Eh? Asian faces, ergo, not New Zealanders. They’re not ‘of us’, but at least they’re cheering ‘for us’. How could Murray tell that they were not New Zealanders? Of course he couldn’t, but it’s another sad example of the deeply embedded assumption among so many ‘European’ (and probably many Maori) that ‘us’ New Zealanders means indigenous people or those obviously of European lineage.
After generations of mono-cultural colonial dominance, most of us (there you are – I too am using ‘us’ to meaning ‘us European Kiwis’) are just getting used to seeing ourselves as a bicultural nation, but we have a step further to take. ‘Us’ should really be used to talk about all people who call New Zealand home.
I’m not aiming to bag Murray. It must be hard to comment live on telly, and I’ve made my share of little cultural bloopers over the years. But when we are trying to build a harmonious, forward-looking country in which all citizens and residents are valued, those that have the public ear should try harder.
It took a while, but I’m now getting used to hearing Asian-looking people speaking as Kiwis, accent and all. It’s great when you can shut your eyes and not tell the difference. Same goes for an increasing number of people whose ancestry is African and Middle-eastern. Clearly these are people from families who have lived here for more than one generation. They are New Zealanders, us. Their parents or grandparents (or whatever) were immigrants, just as mine were. (I’m of British ancestry.)
The use of the word ‘us’ is a natural result of assumed cultural dominance. When you look for it used in this way by pakeha, you find it everywhere, and increasingly it’s making me feel uneasy. For example, so many letters to editors on race relations (particularly in relation to Maori, Pacifica and Asian people or groups) talk about what ‘they’ are trying to do to ‘us’. How ‘they’ should be moiré like ‘us’. The use of ‘us’ always presumes that the writer is representing European-originated New Zealanders in their argument.
I hope that in time we will all come to see people of the full spectrum of cultures and races who choose to live here, as New Zealanders. I have no answers as to how this can be done, except to say that the more ‘we’ (all new Zealanders, but particularly those of the dominant culture) become aware of what ‘we’ are doing, the sooner we will learn to take a broader, more inclusive view.
Thanks to Mr Mexted for reminding me of how easy it is to slip into patronising language.
