I had an assignment for one of my university classes that focuses on leadership and principles. Everyone did theirs on people like Nelson Mandela, Obama, Einstein etc.

Me tho? I did it on the most influential leader on the planet.

KWON JIYONG.

And y’all best believe I got an A+.

māori scholarships are about equity and representation. most of them are funded by māori money and they make up less than a quarter of all available scholarships. many of these are actually very difficult to get for māori who dont know our whakapapa or have become disconnected from our iwi.

when white ppl pull this bullshit ‘māori privilege’ card i ask them, do you struggle to see your people in leadership positions? do you struggle with people telling you colonisation is over? do you see your people underrepresented in a sea of white faces running the show? do you have to put up with your knowledge and culture being undermined by white ppl? are you forced into assimilation and identity erasure? do you have to deal with the shame of being a marginalised indigenous people? do you have to tackle the inter-generational transmission of cultural loss? do you see your people overrepresented in negative health, social and judicial outcomes? maybe consider the possibility that educating our people is vital for our futures?? the system was already built for pākehā so i really have no sympathy for the pity party that gets thrown every time someone tries to invalidate how we māori students get our foot in the door.  those of us fortunate enough to get an education do really important decolonising mahi which often requires us to unlearn and directly confront the pākehā educational paradigms we are faced with.