November 28, 2022
Tā Toby Curtis leaves handbook to unfinished business
The son of the late Te Arawa leader Sir Toby Curtis says his father’s last book should serve as an ōhākī for building a more equitable society in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Unfinished Business: Ki Hea Āpōpō was launched in Rotorua past night.
Piripi Curtis says Tā Toby was working on the book almost up to his death earlier this year.
It traces his life as an educator and an advocate for te reo Māori and Māori broadcasting.
It also sets out his prescription for Pākeha to be part of the process so they can be part of Aotearoa in its true bicultural sense rather than the monoculturalism that is a legacy of colonialism.
“Colonisation is inherently racist and so the policies and I guess the laws that have been created are all based on one particular culture and ignores the other and so we’re left to feel the devastation created by non-inclusion for Māori – in a lot of things it’s still happening,” Mr Curtis says.
Unfinished Business: Ki Hea Āpōpō is published by Oratia Press.