The Pākehā Project aims to deepen Pākehā understanding of the constitutional foundations of Aotearoa.
Photo: Supplied / The Pākehā Project

A Pākehā group is taking the opportunity to honor Te Tiriti, saying a commitment to tino rangatiratanga strengthens, rather than divides, Aotearoa.

The Pākehā Project is an organization of Tangata Tiriti leaders who deliver programs and workshops for Pākehā, aimed at deepening their understanding of the constitutional foundations of Aotearoa.

The group was founded in 2019 by Rebecca Sinclair and Louise Marra (Tuhoe), who met while undertaking a leadership program.

Sinclair said the birth of the Pākehā project was a long journey that grew out of a range of different experiences and realizations that “s*** wasn’t right, so what can we do about it ?”

“You start to see the cracks in the story you’ve been told about the world and when you start to see those cracks you start to be curious about why they are there and try to understand what’s there. actually happens.”

Dr. Darlo Mila, award-winning poet and founder of the Mana Moana indigenous leadership program, also posed a challenge to academics.

Mila said that after participating in Mana Moana, Pasifika often returned to her workplace to see the transformative ideas they had learned from the program “crushed”.

Mila told them that Pākehā had to do the internal work themselves, Sinclair said.

“We took on his challenge and said ‘yes, this is actually the work that needs to be done and that’s really where the problem lies’.

“The problem is not Māori or Pacific or anything like that. The problem is Pākehā because we are the ones in control.”

Rebecca Sinclair (right) recognizes Louise Marra (left) as her tuakana in this work.
Photo: Sophie Harrington

Sinclair said she and Marra are proud to be part of the movement of people who practice restorative and meaningful mahi.

“(We) want to recognize how difficult (and frankly dangerous) this has been for many of those who have led this project for decades, often having to endure intolerance and abuse from those who find it threatening.

“We stand on their shoulders.”

Meaningful Mahi

Māori had been at the forefront of the decolonization movement for generations, Sinclair said, and while Pākehā should not take the lead in the movement, they had a responsibility to engage and include as many people as possible in the movement.

“Our work is not about re-indigenization. Our work is about creating the space necessary for re-indigenization to take place.”

Sinclair said they had prepared Tangata Tiriti to have constitutional conversations, not binary debates, so they could begin to approach those conversations “as deeply and as richly as Māori have done for generations”.

“This is what we must do if we are to have any hope of delivering on the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

She said it was crucial that Pākehā worked together to support each other on this journey of decolonization and connection.

Without these conversations, Sinclair said, “we will continue to tear our social fabric apart.” But because of this, we have an extraordinary opportunity to grow and evolve together, in a mutually beneficial way.”

“It’s not a loss to enter these spaces. We don’t lose anything if Tino Rangatiratanga is honored, we just gain.”

Sinclair said: “We operate on the principle that we are not responsible for what our ancestors did, but that we are responsible for their perpetuation. »
Photo: Rebecca Sinclair

Emotional safety and understanding

The Pākehā Project’s work aimed to help people feel comfortable with uncomfortable recognition emotions such as grief, rage, guilt and shame, without using them as a tool of blame, a Sinclair said.

“We’re not trying to shame people or make people feel guilty, but we know that will happen when you start opening up to these stories and seeing the harm that whiteness causes in the world.”

By exploring both the strengths and weaknesses of the Western Orthodox worldview and its role in shaping society and colonization, the Pākehā project encouraged curiosity about other worldviews rather than disdain, she said.

“We’re trying to help Pākehā realize what this worldview really is, how completely it connects us and how harmful it is to us too.”

Creating safe spaces was key to this process, as it allowed Pākehā to manage their emotions without harming others, particularly Māori, Sinclair said.

“Māori have been telling us this for generations. The last thing we want is Māori in the room, witnessing the learning and epiphany that often takes place.”

Sinclair says they encourage participants “to embrace their own cultural heritage; to view their ancestors, others, and themselves as the imperfect and messy humans that they are, neither heroes nor villains.”
Photo: Rebecca Sinclair

A need for anti-racist education

Although their work received a lot of attention, Sinclair said they also faced resistance, including hate messages and threats.

“I had someone (whose name was) ‘Adolf Hitler’ tell me I was a race traitor,” she said.

Initially, hatred caused fear and doubt, but Sinclair came to view these attacks as attempts to strip her mahi of her power.

She said such sentiments only underscore the importance of anti-racist education.

“It gave me a little insight into the hatred that fear can create. And that’s exactly why we need programs like ours and many others that directly address how racism and oppression works. “

Sinclair encouraged Pākehā to engage with the spaces led by Tiriti, describing the beauty found there.

“It’s absolutely wonderful to be in the job… you start to feel like you belong, that you can settle in and that you don’t have to prove yourself.

“There is a wealth of this vast world that we have not known.”

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