A Whangarei District Councillor is now subject to multiple Code of Conduct complaints following an online “racist” rant directed at another councillor.
Cr Phoenix Ruka made the remarks about Cr Marie Olsen on Instagram on the 14th of November. He is one of two councillors representing the council’s Maori ward. He stood under a Maori Party affiliation and gained 889 votes (the least number of votes of any WDC councillor). Cr Olsen represents the general urban ward, gaining 3564 votes.
In the Instagram post Cr Ruka said,
I needed a quick vent, and this seemed like the best place to do it.
You know what pisses me off most about blatantly racist people – and I know a few. In fact, I have to deal with them daily.
That they will be blatantly racist, ignorant, insult you, make you feel less than, and somehow feel like they are still a good person.
But us as Maori have this thing called mana, and the mana of all people and so my mana and the mana of my tupuna dictate how I should interact with the world, how I should interact with YOU as a racist, even in the face of YOUR ignorance, even in the face of YOU belittling me, making me feel less than, my mana dictates how I should interact with YOU.
But racists do not have that moral compass.
They don’t have the thing that helps them know whether they are doing the right thing with the people they interact with like we do, as in mana, YOU piss me off.
What I find particularly galling about Cr Ruka’s remarks is its arrogance.
He assumes only Maori have mana. Defining exactly what mana means is impossible because every Maori dictionary appears to portray it in a different shade of grey, but broadly speaking it refers to prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, and the like.
It may be news to Cr Ruka but Maori do not have a monopoly on mana. You may call it “mana” (just like you may call New Zealand "Aotearoa") but we describe it using an English word called “respect”, or similar words that may convey a more nuanced interpretation.
To say only Maori have respect for others or for themselves is disgusting arrogance and in my opinion, vividly demonstrates his sense of entitlement and racial superiority.
Put simply, by my definition Cr Ruka is a racist.
I base that on my (English language) interpretation of racism which is discrimination of a person on the grounds of their race, and not the Maori interpretation which appears to go something along the lines of a racist is anyone who says something Maori do not agree with.
According to Cr Ruka, we poor ignorant lost causes do not possess superhero mana powers, so we do not have a moral compass and therefore, are unable to discern right from wrong. Hmm, well my sense of right is that Cr Ruka is wrong.
No wonder Cr Ruka is pissed off – it must be traumatic having to “deal with” so many people daily with moral compasses pointing in the wrong direction!
