Life Cycles
[There is] still only one institution of power – that’s controlled by Pākeha; economics of the country, controlled by Pākeha; institutions of law…1
Māori feature negatively in the statistics relating to nearly every aspect of New Zealand society – from health, housing, income, education, and imprisonment, to cultural identity issues. These are the direct result of colonisation – of a group ‘lost in their own homeland2 - and the outcomes are the same for other indigenous peoples around the world who have found themselves swamped by another dominating foreign culture.
Thrown from their land into an unfamiliar urban world, where practice of their culture or language was for many years either forbidden or looked down on, Māori have found themselves on the bottom rung of the new Western/European social and economic ladders. And the system has subtle ways of keeping them down there.
Colonisation, by its very nature, is a racist concept – a colonised country can only be a racist country3.
Racism, at its most basic, is the belief that one group is better, or superior, to another. This belief is not based on any real evidence or experience, but on the ‘black and white’ mentality of superiority by virtue of skin colour or ‘good breeding’. And once a group of people have been stripped of their dignity, their ability to feed, support and educate their families and, most importantly, of their right to speak freely within that society and share its wealth, it is easy for the dominating group to maintain this inequality. It’s about labelling those below you as less ‘civilised,’ of less value to the world; of pointing to the reduced way they have been forced to live, and using this as ‘evidence’ of moral weakness. It’s about blaming the victims.
…even though they are aware that they are suffering… they’re not educated enough to rise up against the power structure. Whenever they start to think ‘revolution’, there’s some cultural thing there to pacify their mind… cable tv… the fashions… fast food… all these things partly pacify the imagination4.
And, over time, this belief becomes so taken for granted that even those who are not consciously racist allow such inequality to continue – by believing the propaganda of those who hold tightly to the power.
That is the flip side of racism. If one group is disadvantaged, the other is privileged. That’s white privilege… Robert Jensen has observed, ‘At this moment in history, being colour-blind is a privilege available only to white people. Non-white do not have the luxury of pretending that colour can be ignored5.’
So what’s all this got to do with Hip Hop? Think back to Hip Hop’s origins – to the African American and Latino youth of the Bronx ghettos who first gave Hip Hop voice… the same issues that arise around colonisation also ring just as true for African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans as they do for Māori and indigenous people everywhere.
Young indigenous Australian boy rhyming - The rapping warrior. From Nga Tahi - Know the Links.
»watch video
Joining the Dots
The common theme is injustice; social, political, economic.
Hip Hop is used as a tool for empowerment. And this empowerment comes from disenfranchised, minority, and indigenous peoples talking about their lives and experiences in a positive way.
‘Māori people within the [Aotearoa] Hip Hop community, like Dean Hapeta, Dam Native and Iwi, are contributing to the overall desire for cultural and language revitalisation, with a twist.’6 This same formula can be seen in other indigenous cultures' use of Hip Hop, such as Australia’s Aborigines and the Native Hawaiians.
Australia
The indigenous peoples of Australia – Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders – use Hip Hop as a tool for relaying messages about their history of colonialism, traditional culture and the present day issues they face. Like the indigenous Māori, Aboriginal Hip Hop has its own ‘flava’ and agenda.Local Knowledge, an Aboriginal crew based in Sydney, takes the traditional elements of American-derived Hip Hop but gives it a local and indigenous edge. They talk about drug and alcohol abuse and its effects on children and the wider Aboriginal community; reaffirm Aboriginal tribes across Australia as the true occupiers of the land; and talk about the shameful history of the Aboriginal people at the hands of White Australia, in the context of the Stolen Generation7.
How can this country justify/ The tears flowing from a baby whilst her mother cries/That baby got took away ‘cause the shade of her skin/ Being black in this country is seen as a sin.
Local Knowledge – ‘Stolen’
Hawai'i
Once stereotyped as ukulele-players, the face of Native Hawaiian music changed in 1994 when the revolutionary sound of Sudden Rush was unleashed from the island of Hawai'i. They blend English and Hawaiian lyrics and chants, with sampling of Native Hawaiian leaders and political spokespeople. With tracks like ‘True Hawaiian’ and ‘Think About It’, they explore Native Hawaiian issues that are affecting Kanaka Maoli (indigenous people of Hawai'i). The messages are powerful history lessons, in an island chain that has been swamped by American culture, and promote Native Hawaiian independence.
How many pure blooded Hawaiians still walk the earth? / Yo, there ain’t too many left since these islands’ birth / Back in the day long before the white man came / When the pure blood of Polynesia filled these veins / Feel my pain it ain’t getting easier / From 900 thousand to a dying race/Now we’re out of place in our own back yard.
Sudden Rush - ‘Night Marchers.’
Here, There and Everywhere
In their track ‘Messenjahs’ Sudden Rush take a shot at America for its colonisation of America’s First People - acknowledgement that the indigenous struggle extends beyond the Hawaiian Islands. Similar links between Hip Hop and indigenous issues are found in South Africa, Cuba, North America… on and on. The list is huge (and will be explored further in the Activities section). By indigenous people re-asserting their voices, they begin their spiritual journey towards Home. And for many, Hip Hop has given them the means to do so.
From – ‘ŪANGA - the nourishing’
E kore e ngawhere, E kore e ngawhere The loud voices and strange silences Of others hide our loss Our children Will need to break the silence And tell our stories again (Te Kupu)
Test your knowledge
- What is the most basic meaning of the word ‘racism’?
- What does the word ‘propaganda’ mean, and how does it relate to colonisation?
- How do the indigenous people of Australia use Hip Hop to help address their colonisation issues?
- How many indigenous Hawaiian people does the Hip Hop group Sudden Rush claim were originally settled in Hawai'i prior to the arrival of Europeans?
Extend your thinking
Think about a time you made a judgement about a person based on the colour of their skin, the way they looked, or the country they originated from. Was this judgment based on real facts or evidence? Or did you just repeat things you had heard or read?
Do you ever group all people of one race or culture together and make a judgement call about their worth in a society? What makes you do this? How can you change the way you react?
1 Moana Jackson, from ‘Ngā Tahi – Know the Links’, 2003, Kia Kaha Productions.
2 Joe Hawke.
3 Moana Jackson, from ‘Ngā Tahi – Know the Links’, 2003, Kia Kaha Productions.
4 Mutabaruka, from ‘Ngā Tahi – Know the Links’, 2003, Kia Kaha Productions.
5 Neville Robertson, ‘On Equality and Colour Blindness.’ Neville Robertson is a community psychologist at the University of Waikato.
6 Waiti, D. ‘Spotlight On: Angles on Global Hip Hop Culture’, in ‘The Next – an Impression of Hip Hop Expression’, p104.
7 Stolen Generation is the term commonly used to mean the Australian Aboriginal children who were removed from their families by Australian government agencies and church missions between approximately 1900 and 1972 . Originally considered child welfare , the practice is today perceived by many as a gross human rights violation, having wrought extensive family and cultural damage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generation l.
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