May 13, 2016
Mayor Judd is a Hero
Mayor Judd is a Hero
WILLIE JACKSON
It’s been an interesting last couple of weeks for New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd, he announced that he would not be standing for the mayoralty again and he has been all over the national news since the announcement.
He describes himself as a recovering racist which has infuriated his critics who have accused him of creating division, but he makes no apology for his stance that Māori should have their own dedicated seats on council.
I was asked by Andrew to support his stand and in 2014 he invited me to participate in a debate on special Māori representation against Winston Peters. I considered it an honour that I was asked and so went to New Plymouth and debated against Winston in front of an audience of 500 to 600 people.
I was lucky because I had two MP’s – Marama Fox and Metiria Turei on my side, and all the critics felt we won the debate hands-down. However, I knew that the audience saw it differently and although Winston was not helped at all by his two teammates, the people just loved him and embraced his message.
Sadly he reinforced the prejudices that too many Taranaki Pākeha people hold with his nonsensical rhetoric about everyone having the same opportunities and his view that Māori having their own seats was an example of racism in reverse.
Nothing could be further from the truth, Taranaki Māori were ripped to pieces by land loss and no one will ever forget the tragic history of Parihaka when the crown invaded a peaceful Māori settlement and imprisoned their leaders.
In fact the Waitangi Tribunal went as far as describing what happened to Taranaki Māori as an example of a holocaust which upset the Labour government at the time. Despite this and Prime Minister Helen Clark’s strange declaration that all of her ministers were banned from referring to what happened in Taranaki as a holocaust, it was seen as a correct call by most academics and historians.
Māori have always had minimal representation on the council with only Rugby league legend Howie Tamati being elected, so resentment at not having their voice heard has been building.
Andrew Judd has witnessed all of this and had enough, he was tired of Māori being totally shut out of what was happening at local council and was disgusted at the racism that was being shown by Pākeha.
He read the history of what happened to Māori and that was enough to convince him that there had to be a change so he has campaigned strongly for Māori to have their own seats.
He has been condemned by his own for his stand, spat at, abused and ignored but this has made him more resilient. He says Pākeha, not just in Taranaki but all over the country, must come to terms with their own racism. He is 100 percent correct, Judd is a once in a lifetime Pākeha Political leader and I have never seen another Pākeha politician like him.
While he is not appreciated right now by the majority in this country, one day he will be celebrated and remembered for the hero that he is.
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