Ae Marika: Haere e te Rangatira
te-pati-maori
Tue Sep 11 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Ae Marika: Haere e te Rangatira
Tuesday, 11 September 2007, 9:40 am
Column: The Maori Party
Ae Marika!
A column for the Northland Age
By Hone Harawira
MP for Tai Tokerau
11 September 2007
( also available online at www.tokerau.co.nz )
Haere e te Rangatira
Some years back I was asked who the people were who’d had an influence on me. I started thinking about it and ended up with a huge list which I had to cut back so I didn’t look like some dork who needed everybody else to run his life for him.
What I ended up with was: my mum Titewhai because she will always be my mum, and for her total commitment to all her whanau; my wife Hilda who hates me saying so, but is everything to me; Nelson Mandela who proved that if your spirit is strong, not even 27 years in jail can break you; Muhammad Ali for being young, incredibly gifted, and proud to be black; Maori Marsden who taught me that being Maori is a gift to be thankful for every day of your life; and Syd Jackson who taught me that if you believe in something, let no one set you aside from that belief.
Well, last week we buried Syd Jackson at his home marae, Matahiwi, down Hastings way. Syd was a founding member of Nga Tamatoa, who people of my generation and older will remember as that radical Maori group back in the 70s who fought for Maori to be taught in schools, and who dared to say that Maori had Treaty rights. Back then Pakeha all round the country hated Syd, and so did a whole heap of Maori too just quietly, but Syd was never cowed by that. He would always say that “Aotearoa is Maori land” and he would argue his point with anyone, anywhere. He never took a backward step.
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Syd made being Maori, highly educated, and fearless, his trademark. He dominated university life, and gave up any hope of a glittering corporate career to fight for Maori rights. His Maori was hopeless, but he fought for the language so that others would benefit from it. He marched to Waitangi when Maori were afraid to talk about it publicly. He put his freedom on the line in land occupations at Raglan and Bastion Point. He worked tirelessly within the Trade Union movement. He hosted the “Liberation Talkback” show on Radio Waatea for years. And he helped build Turuki Health Care into a powerful health provider in South Auckland.
Funny thing is though, that I’m happy that he’s died. He gave his all when he was with us. 100%. Every single day of his life. And even when his body was being eaten up by cancer, he’d just muscle on. I’m happy for him that the pain is gone, and that his wairua can return to those others who have gone before him – Eva Rickard, Hana Te Hemara, Eddie Hawk and many, many others. Our lives are brighter for your having lived amongst us.
No reira e te rangatira, haere, haere, hoki atu ra.
ENDS
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