History lesson in statue attack
A Waikato elder says the Education Ministry hasn’t got the message that it’s time to teach New Zealand’s history.
Taitimu Maipi attacked a statute in Hamilton last week of the city’s namesake, who entered the history books by losing his life leading a charge by colonial forces at Gate Pā in Tauranga.
He says the Hamilton statue is seen as a hero because the ministry has resisted calls to put the land wars in the curriculum.
"I’m the chair of Kura o Rākaumangamanga and our children need to be told the true history of this country. People may not like it but you cannot put a blind face over what has happened in the past," he says.
The statue was donated to the city by a local company five years ago, in what Mr Maipi sees as a deliberate attempt to celebrate a racist past.
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