This is one of the media pieces I have done in Australia around the Spencer Leniu/Ezra Mam racial slur case in the National Rugby League's season opener. (The full radio interview is [audio link] is below. While racism against Mam and other Indigenous Australians must be emphatically called out and eliminated, I have been frustrated by a lack of nuance around this discussion by some mainstream media. Specifically, the assumption that Spencer Leniu requires antiracism education. Yes, he and many of us in Pacific communities may require education about the historical and ongoing colonial and racial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (including dispossession, displacement and more), but he is not a stranger to racism. I see him as being “punched down to”. In the longer radio interview below, I also discuss:
- the Samoan/Pacific concept of ‘Va’ and why Leniu’s offer to say sorry may not have been understood by non-Samoans
- which is why I call for the NRL to have cultural intelligence/culturally safe practices
- And I call for the NRL to add culturally safe restorative justice processes to its Judiciary process, so that our Indigenous and Pacific communities can heal from this event, not just get a ruling/punishment for Leniu that is meant to close the case.
In no way, do I wish to decentre or disrespect Ezra Mam, a proud Kuku Yalanji and Torres Strait Islander man. Both he and Leniu are brilliant rising stars who deserve a bright future in the game they both love. I’ll post a related Sydney Morning Herald article I'm quoted in too.
Lastly, if you’re interested why I’m talking about this case. First, I am a human rights advocate who has a special interest in race relations, and also social cohesion, which I can describe simply as the ‘glue’ or ‘fabric’ that keeps a society together or can tear it apart. I’m very interested in how we as Pacific peoples in Aotearoa NZ and Australia are contributing to building social cohesion or fraying (eroding) it. Thank you Agnes Tupou of ABC Pacific for interviewing me.
https://lnkd.in/gZ_AHiun
Longer former audio interview - https://lnkd.in/gPJP8_qM
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