Yellow Peril by Tze Ming Mok

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Yellow Peril: cops and robbers, qilai and collapse

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  • Joanna,

    While it pretty much goes without saying that it truly sucks that you had to say it, the "what are you going to do - tag me to death?" line is sheer genius.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Manakura,

    Five or six skinny 15-year old Freemans Bay wannabe gangstas (white and brown if you're interested) gave me the foreign-lady-love-you-long-time treatment, and a bit of a shove, in broad daylight on the Wellington St overbridge.

    OMG! The overpriveleged wankers I spent New Years with up at Taipa were right Grey Lynn and Freemans Bay are "dangerous man."

    OK some context: They were both from the North Shore and displayed a mix of fear and admiration when they found out I lived in Grey Lynn. Why? Apparently wanker A's brother had been chased down the street by "a car full of coconuts." I naturally asked if Wanker A's brother was an LSD freak beacause as far as i was aware coconut lack the sentient awareness to drive cars, as do most kinds of fruit and veg.

    In response to a blank look from A & B I attempted to explain the difference between palm trees and human beings, but zoology and botany weren't really there strong points.

    So, were any of the wangkstas (pidgin for wannabe gangsta) who accosted you actually small hard tropical fruit disguised as humans? If so, I owe two sincere young Pakeha from Takapuna an apology. You know who you are.

    I attended that Bill English lecture and come out of it enraged: I hate it when people I fundamentally disagree with articulate their position so intelligently and thoughtfully.

    Whaingāroa • Since Nov 2006 • 134 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The Asian-Americans have been emoting for months about Masi Oka - he's making all those geekboy-superhero dreams come true. On television.

    Without doubt, Hiro is one of the best new TV characters of recent years, and brilliantly cast. Our house loves Hiro.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    OK some context: They were both from the North Shore and displayed a mix of fear and admiration when they found out I lived in Grey Lynn. Why? Apparently wanker A's brother had been chased down the street by "a car full of coconuts."

    Leaving aside the vegetable slur, you should point out to your friends that these days there aren't that many Pacific Islanders in Grey Lynn who aren't Oscar Kightley.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    While it pretty much goes without saying that it truly sucks that you had to say it, the "what are you going to do - tag me to death?" line is sheer genius.

    She's good on the radio too ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Tze Ming Mok,

    Grey Lynn and Freemans Bay are "dangerous man."

    They don't call Freemans Bay 'The Art Ghetto' for nothing.

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    I want to blow the whistle on you for those that didn't hear it. You are suspected of being responsible for several seizures among the more senior members of the National Radio listening audience for playing Whoop! Whoop! This is the sound of the Police! by KRS One and Into the Groovy by Ciccone Youth, two previously unheard songs on the Rainy Day at the Batch segment of Summer Report. A memory to treasure.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Manakura,

    They don't call Freemans Bay 'The Art Ghetto' for nothing.

    O right it was the roving gangs of bandit painters and poets that Wankers A & B were referring to. Clearly some renegade Freemans Bay artists had used turned their evil skills to disguising themselves as small brown fruit. They don't take to kindly to art in the burbs north of the harbour bridge do they?

    Leaving aside the vegetable slur, you should point out to your friends that these days there aren't that many Pacific Islanders in Grey Lynn who aren't Oscar Kightley.

    Heh, I considered telling them that statistically speaking the brother was likely to have been chased by a celebrity,(assuming it wasn't a paranoid meat eaters delusion), therefore it was an honour. But as they didn't get the coconut = delicious fruit; Samoan = human being distinction I decided to bust out my Suzanne Paul "do the blue monkey" impression. See how they run, see how they run...

    Please don't ever refer to peeps like that as my friends, not even jokingly. Someone from the resistance might take it the wrong way should they stumble across this site. And in all seriousness, its hardly relevant that G Lynn has become gentrified of late, the point was their equating a perceived 'brown zone' with violent crime.

    Don't these people watch outrageous fortune: it clearly demonstrates white folk commit crime too... except when they do it, its funny I guess.

    Whaingāroa • Since Nov 2006 • 134 posts Report Reply

  • Tze Ming Mok,

    You are suspected of being responsible for several seizures among the more senior members of the National Radio listening audience for playing Whoop! Whoop! This is the sound of the Police! by KRS One and Into the Groovy by Ciccone Youth

    Uh, dude, all those two choices show is how bloody nostalgic and old I'm getting. Hell, I was watching the 'Men in Makeup' top 10 videos on C4 last night - it was so dominated by Emo bands that when 'Personal Jesus' came on, I was overcome by melancholic nostalgia for the political cogency of Marilyn Manson...

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • Heather Gaye,

    Apparently wanker A's brother had been chased down the street by "a car full of coconuts."

    It still astounds me that there are people who use the word "coconut" in conversations with people they've never met. Racism is one thing, but surely there's an element of stupidity in disparaging the prevailing demographic to someone that lives in the area.

    Morningside • Since Nov 2006 • 533 posts Report Reply

  • Manakura,

    It still astounds me that there are people who use the word "coconut" in conversations with people they've never met. Racism is one thing, but surely there's an element of stupidity in disparaging the prevailing demographic to someone that lives in the area.

    Again I thank (in a highly ambivalent fashion) my kehua features (kehua = ghots). Passing as a Pakeha is quite revealing, almost as revealing as being party to what Maori say to each other about about their 'others', particularly the non-white ones. The dull witted rascism of even otherwise well educated Maori brothers and sistas is quite shocking: as experienced by Tze Ming on Wellingtron St.

    I am stewing over the idea that a big part of Maori xenophobia lies in the way Official Bi-culturalism discourse is contructed. There's a long history of the colonial majority overtly attempting to drive wedges between Maori and other ethnic minorities, (that was one of the good things about the Chinese-Maori encounters talk, Tze Ming, the study of the Niu Pepa Maori - Maori language newspapers) and I think Bi-culturalism in Aotearoa offers up oppurtunities to acheive that end.

    If I wasn't so tied up with a thesis I'd actually look into it in a quasi-academic fashion. But between venting on PA System and making frustrated and abusive phone calls to Studylink (no pay for 4 weeks and counting...) time just flies.

    I must be having fun, really I am...

    Whaingāroa • Since Nov 2006 • 134 posts Report Reply

  • Heather Gaye,

    Passing as a Pakeha is quite revealing, almost as revealing as being party to what Maori say to each other about about their 'others', particularly the non-white ones.

    Yeah, I had no idea! This Christmas my mum mentioned that a Fijian teacher at her school was having a lot of trouble with her predominantly Maori class. I never encountered any racism growing up; something I attributed to living in an area with a 50/50 split; but immigrants are a relatively new phenomenon, and mum was saying that the Maori kids (and by extension their parents) are generally the ones making racist remarks.

    Granted, there's a reasonable correlation of poverty to skin colour in my home town as well, so I can't be sure of causes vs effects.

    Morningside • Since Nov 2006 • 533 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Well, Maori fears of displacement by foreigners goes back to the early 19th century - and they were largely proved correct too.

    My experience is that members of ethnic minorities are no less prejudiced than anyone else. Possibly, in an attempt to bolster group identity and pride, even worse.

    On the third hand Manakura's not-mates may well be like my ex brother-in-law, for whom words like "coconut" were unself-consciously natural. Unti it was pointed out, it never would have occurred to him that there was any other word to use, or that offensive sentiment attached, and it wasn't as if he knew anyone who could take it personally.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Manakura,

    it never would have occurred to him that there was any other word to use, or that offensive sentiment attached

    Really? I hear what you're saying but we're assuming

    a. peeps like that have no idea that you call people from Samoa, Samoan, people from Tonga, Tongans and etc

    b. the equating of a hard non-thinking fruit with a person isn't inherentlly offensive, but rather is offensive by some external scenario

    I wonder if, before the offensiveness of coconut to some peoples, your ex brother in law would've innocently called a Samoan, or Fijian or whoever a coconut?

    Well, Maori fears of displacement by foreigners goes back to the early 19th century - and they were largely proved correct too.

    True on both counts though I think the position of the vast majority of non-white migrant commuinties and people are very different to that of settler groups. For a start he involvement of the former in the ongoing colonisation of Aotearoa is fairly minimal: among other reasons ethnic minorities are just as disempowered by the Pakeha majority as Maori are.

    That last statement captures one of the reasons why Maori racism against non-white NZers is such a damned shame. There is so much potential for strategic political, social, and economic alliances between tangata whenua and Asian, South East, Dhesi and Pasifika diaspora. And I think Biculturalism helps prevent that.

    Imagine if there was more unity of post-colonial purpose amongst 2006's Maori, Pacific, Asian and MELAA people: 1, 220, 598 people united against Pakeha domination of the political, social and economic systems of the nation. If I was a member of the Orewa roatry club I'd probably get a timeshare in the Gold Coast and run screaming.

    Whaingāroa • Since Nov 2006 • 134 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    wonder if, before the offensiveness of coconut to some peoples, your ex brother in law would've innocently called a Samoan, or Fijian or whoever a coconut?

    Not at all. I was just saying that if you grow up in a racist milieu, and the term you hear most commonly is a racist one, it is the one you will reach for unconsciously, without any overt (though perhaps plenty of covert) malice.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Manakura,

    I just re-read English's Chapman Speech and to kick off a critique I came across the following paragraph:

    I believe this university, and other tertiary institutions are better placed than a Government to manage the tensions and trade-offs. Auckland University has thousands of international students and its part of a global flow of people, funding and knowledge. It also has a relationship with Ngati Whatua. Two long standing civil traditions intersect here.

    He's totally right of course, he just missed on important word out: dysfunctional is the perfect adjective to apply to the relationship between the University of Auckland and Ngati Whatua.

    I went to Ta Hugh Kawharu's tangi with Maori university staff and the Vice Chancellor and we were given a hiding. Not fisticuff's, but a verbal and social twist of the ear. All of our kaikorero asked that Ta Hugh be bought to lie in state on the university Waipapa marae.

    This is one of the highest compliments one can pay to the dead, to ask that they be tangi'd over on your home marae as one of your own. And we were turned down flat, which would have been a grave insult were it not so well deserved.

    See any fool wth a passing interest in university and local iwi relations would know that there are several longstanding points of tension between the two parties. oOe is the foot dragging over signing a memo of understanding between the uniersity and Ngati Whatua, and another key issue is the status of the James Henare centre (a research entity) which has been shut down in all but name. (So it looks good in the uni website and in the brochures, but has no staff, and is actually conducts no research).

    Thta Bill English could stump up with such a clanger as an ideal for ethnic relation is quite stunning. How many other points has he fudged it in his speech?

    I'll be back with the harvest from my fine-toothed comb tomorrow.

    Whaingāroa • Since Nov 2006 • 134 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    You know it's the school holidays when teenage boys start doing bloody stupid stuff. I was walking home from the bus stop when a car o' teen boys drove past and yelled "fat bitch!" at me and then, to my amazement, turned down the cul-de-sac where I live.

    So of course I merrily strolled up to their parked car (they were dropping off someone) and told them they were dickheads. They denied it (well, I don't see any other car o' teens around here...), but all looked scared of ze crazy lady.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • dylan,

    Imagine if there was more unity of post-colonial purpose amongst 2006's Maori, Pacific, Asian and MELAA people: 1, 220, 598 people united against Pakeha domination of the political, social and economic systems of the nation.

    You sound as though you are about to chase us into the sea!?

    netherlands • Since Nov 2006 • 14 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    at risk of blundering into this debate a little late,

    http://www.publicaddress.net/default,2610.sm#post2610

    http://www.publicaddress.net/default,2635.sm#post2635

    oh, and i worked in a phone room where usually the only white face was mine. coconut, hori, taro and other was words frequently bandied around the room. the only one who didn't use them? yours truly.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    and another key issue is the status of the James Henare centre (a research entity) which has been shut down in all but name. (So it looks good in the uni website and in the brochures, but has no staff, and is actually conducts no research).

    A skeptic might point out it conducted precious little research even when it did have staff.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Span .,

    It's often a problem for union organising when working with different Pacific Island groups at the same company or worksite - particularly when one ethnicity has the supervisor roles and another does not. We palangi aren't very good at dealing with it either, imagining that all the oppressed can get along with each other in their own best interests. But really, why should they?

    Of course I could also share the example of my incredibly racist and sexist workmate who also happens to be, you guessed it, gay. Totally and utterly unaware of the privilege he has as a white man, but seemingly equally ignorant of the (public and otherwise) support that many of the women he verbally attacks have offered to causes that have made his life as a non-hetero easier (and not illegal). Hypocrisy really doesn't do this guy justice.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 112 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Hypocrisy really doesn't do this guy justice.

    He wouldn't be the first gay misogynist.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Its the gay homophobes you have to watch out for...

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Span .,

    Yeah he definitely isn't the first gay misogynist, but I work for a particularly PC (allegedly) organisation - you'd think that the misogynists would kind of guess that their bigotry probably isn't going to be that welcome in the staffroom here.

    Isabel Allende wrote in one of her novels about the resentment some feel when they have been helped, and it has stuck with me. There are some who, instead of feeling grateful that they have received assistance from others and wanting to go out and do a good deed themselves, resent that they needed help in the first place - targetting the very people who are most sympathetic to them and even may have rendered the assistance. Perhaps a form of cognitive dissonance?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 112 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Smart,

    the demographer quoted as 'warning' Maori about the impending swamping of Maori by 'Asians.'

    Surely this is tautological if DNA tests are to be believed Maori are Asians albiet as far removed:
    Maori ancestry traced back to Taiwan


    Maori ancestry traced back to Taiwan http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/596904

    Since Nov 2006 • 71 posts Report Reply

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