Tēnā tātou e te whānau,

I would like to give you context about this photo of my Māmā and Pāpā.

I suspect the majority of people are thinking "what you see is what you get" but there is more to this photo than what first comes to mind. Like the majority of our gang whānau across the motu we were born into environments shaped by others (Eg: due to colonization and the incomprehensible evils and residual effects of it) and because of that this photo can encapsulate all the horrific statistics that may come to mind that no one (not Māori, not Pākehā or Tauiwi) would want to raise their hands up and promote and we all are so quick to collectively frown upon........but thats only looking at this photo at face value.

What might not be visible to many is that tāne in the photo was not raised in his culture and language, in fact his upbringing was quite the opposite and filled with trauma so complex I couldn't possibly do my Pāpā justice trying to dig that deep into his story in this piece of writing however this is a timely reminder that we have to remember to never view a person outside of the full context of their history - it was increasingly normalised for our peoples in generations before us to be deterred away from their culture and language so that we (Māori) would have a better chance at life if we adopted Pākehā values and assimilated into a Western way of living, even if it meant leaving our culture and language behind. Collectively we weren't to know how devasting the effects of systemic racism eroding away at our culture and language would have on the world as we know it today and because of this I hold our ancestors in the highest regard for just surviving in a world far different to what their tīpuna would have dreamt for us all.

I'm going to share my point of view of my Pāpā when I see this photo, my favourite memories and the kind of mana enhancing emotions I feel when I think of my Pāpā (and Māmā) regardless if you believe me or not. My Pāpā is the most loving person that I have ever encountered - yep that big brown scary looking dude.... I know its hard to believe but its true. Despite not being raised in his culture and language make no mistake about it, he Māori ia, my Pāpā loves and protects his whānau the way I imagine our tīpuna did pre colonial times. While patched up, he would kiss me on the lips when he would drop me off to kura and tell me he loves me in front of all of my school friends who would laugh and mock me when he left, innocently of course. While patched up, he would always get in trouble for not making the club meeting times because he was slaving away at his labouring job so his whānau at home had enough to survive. While patched up, he stood by my Māmā as she battled her first bout of cancer in her late 30's when they were both still just young parents themselves and not properly equipped to navigate a traumatic event like that. While patched up, my Pāpā was able to be so deeply loving towards his whānau despite the layers of trauma and hardships he inevitably survived himself and yes... I'll address the elephant in the room to set the record straight he never struck me or my siblings (bar a few clips around the ears when we absolutely needed to be disciplined.) This is who I see when I see this photo.

Now in his kaumātua years (just joking Dad) my Pāpā encourages me to channel that inherently "Māori" mischief energy within to fight oppression and challenge matters systemically for our peoples (especially for our most marginalized whānau, red, blue, black, white or otherwise) by way of decolonizing and re indeginizing myself and our whānau and thats also why kaupapa Māori driven initiatives like language revitalization is crucial to heal the loss of language trauma and to help us collectively on the lifetime haerenga of becoming well again holistically.

Equally he encourages me to embrace my inherently "Māori" wāhine energy within too by priotizing, loving and respecting our wāhine and tamariki above all like how our tāne use to before colonization. To not be afraid to love hard, hug softly, and cry lots. The reality is Indeginous peoples pre colonial contact were so in touch with their feminine qualities that to this day they still stand the test of time (and attempts to whitewash our pūrakau/stories with exaggerated masculinity) as some of the greatest examples of lovers and carers of their families this world has ever seen.

Kāti ake/thats enough for now. Kia kaha e te whānau, kia kaha te reo Māori.

Mauri ora ki a tātou katoa.