May 27, 2016
Parihaka hikoi extended
A one day hikoi to Parihaka has turned into three days of walking and talking.
Organiser Glenn Bennett says Mayor Andrew Judd's original plan to walk the 44 kilometres from New Plymouth to the village on the western slope of Taranaki maunga would have left walkers tired and footsore, with little time for the conversation he wants about a new future for race relations in Aotearoa.
The plan now is to leave the council chambers on June 15 for a four-hour walk to Oakura where there will be a community conversation in the local hall.
The next day the marchers will go on to Okato for another community conversation, and reach Parihaka on the Friday as originally planned.
Mr Bennett expects numbers to grow over the three days.
"It's not about the whole walk, you don't have to do the 44 kilometres, every footprint counts, if you can do one step or if you are giving support through your conversations and your social media engagements and talking differently to people about this, that is what this is about, every footprint counts in this new conversation," he says.
Mr Bennett says messages of support for Mayor Judd's initiative and his efforts to get better Maori representation in local government.
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