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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria University, Wellington. Vol. 22, No. 6. Wednesday, June 24, 1959

Unfortunate

Unfortunate

Mr. Love has chosen unfortunate examples when he says that "as long as Caledonian and Hibernian societies remain in New Zealand and in the world" such things as racial discrimination in football must be supported, for surely these are notable cases of national and religious groups retaining their own "identity", their peculiar cultural heritage, while at the same time their members are fully New Zealanders and participate in all forms of the national life.

But one of the most striking features of this whole business, to my mind, has been the almost complete silence of Maori individuals or groups until after the Rugby Union's decision was announced.

This fact has been noted by Mr. Tirikatene, who Bays that "it is not customary in Maoridom for the race to demand to be heard if it be to call attention to themselves—until an issue is made clear. . . . We have a word in the Maori language—'whakamomori'—meaning 'to suffer in silence' . . . but this silence of courtesy and humbleness has ended."

But was such forbearance due to courtesy or to apathy? If the racial situations were reversed, it is hard to imagine that most whites would not protest if they were the victims of any racial discrimination.

It has been suggested that this Maori attitude is part of a "manana" outlook on life; if this is true, Maoris must be considered partly responsible for the continuance of such discrimination.