Cultural justice and ethics: From within

Abstract

Where I eventually got a lot of support, awhi, aroha, was from the PPTA when I became a member of Te Huarahi and they helped to see me through the tears and the confusion. It wasn’t because I was Maori, it was because I was a human being. I think the process I have gone through is a process of becoming human, and becoming real in thinking; yes, my experience is valid. I’m not just Maori, I’m Pakeha too. I want both of them, I am both of them. I don’t have to get up and speak fluent Maori right now. Perhaps it will come. I hope it does because I want it to, and I’m going to work on it. But I do feel that people like me, and there are many of us, are not marginal. We are bridges between cultures. This diversity has to be acknowledged, honoured and respected.