Brown Power in New Zealand: The Fight for Self-Determination & Equality
Aim: to explain how the US Black Civil Rights movement was significant to New Zealand, focusing on Ngā Tamatoa
and the Polynesian Panthers
New Zealand is often used as an example of a country where race relations between the indigenous
peoples and European settlers have generally been positive. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in
the spirit of partnership and progress, with the British keen to avoid mistakes that had been made in other
places such as Australia and North America. However, promises were quickly broken by the British
government. Maori land was confiscated and culture marginalised. The expectation that Maori should
become ‘brown Pakehas’ was firmly entrenched. Today although race relations are still not perfect, New
Zealand is a bi-cultural country which celebrates and is proud of both its Maori and European heritage. This
has not always been the case, and the New Zealand of the 1970s was a very different place than today. The
1960s and 1970s was a time of great social change across the globe, where the youth started to evaluate
and redefine the values of previous generations. Inspired by international movements such as the fight for
Black Civil Rights in America, Maori and Polynesian students led protests and instigated many of the
changes which have sought to heal the mistakes of the past.
A common misconception is that Black Power is about violence and ‘taking over’. This is not true. Black
Power is about empowering people to become proud of who they are, to stand up as equal citizens, to live
with dignity in a society free from oppression and racism, to achieve this by their own endeavours (actions)
rather than being ‘allowed to’ by whites in the same way that a parent might allow their child more
freedom. Black Power is not passive, it is about making yourself heard and achieving change. The ‘violence’
misconception came about because Black Power in America did believe in fighting back IF you were
attacked first.
The Black Panthers encouraged members to carry weapons and wore a military style uniform as they were
tired of being physically attacked and wanted to defend themselves. The Panther symbolised an animal
that ‘did not attack unless backed into a corner, but when attacked they would annihilate (destroy) the
aggressor’. The Polynesian Panthers followed this philosophy but rejected violent responses.
Panther Power Across the Globe
Huey Newton: co-founder and
leader of the Black Panther
Party, established to promote
Black Power, human rights, selfdefence and to improve social
and political conditions.
Will 'Ilolahia, one of the
founders of the
Polynesian Panthers
Watch the ‘Maori Activists, 1979’ documentary clip and make notes that could be used to support the key ideas
affecting New Zealand in the 1970s.
Key Ideas
‘Black is
Beautiful’
Tired of
waiting for
change
Cultural
Assimilation
(means the
complete absorption
of one culture into
the dominant
culture’s way of life)
Selfdetermination
Discrimination
from the
Police
America in the 1960s-70s
This sought to restore pride to Black Americans who had
often grown up for centuries with feelings of inferiority,
believing that being black was something to be ashamed
of. Malcolm X, for example, used to bleach and
straighten his hair so he could become more ‘European’.
Black Pride sought to encourage people to celebrate
their diversity and be proud of who they were. Angela
Davis became the ‘face’ of the Black is Beautiful
campaign.
Rosa Parks famously said that she ‘was tired of being
pushed around’ which led her to refuse to give up her
seat on the bus. 100 years after the end of slavery, Black
Americans still hadn’t gained equality, even after the
1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Act provided
equality in the eyes of the law. The increasing frustration
with the slow pace of change led many young, urban
blacks to reject the traditional non-violent movement as
promoted by Martin Luther King. They began to look to
other movements, such as the Black Panthers and the
Black Muslims, and embrace Black Power, hoping a more
radical stance would force change.
Linked to ‘Black is Beautiful’. The belief that rather than
celebrate diversity, minority cultures should adopt all the
cultural practices of the dominant culture and become
‘just like the whites’, forgetting their own unique
heritage and customs. This arrogance goes back to
‘imperial attitudes’ of the past where Europeans
believed they had a duty to ‘civilise savages’ and make
everyone behave just like them.
Self-determination is the right to define your own goals
and develop your own separate organisations and
institutions. Black Power promoted this goal, feeling that
they had tried to work with the whites for so long
without any success – they would never be accepted as
equals - so it was time to take matters into their own
hands and forge their own futures. A multicultural
society would not work as whites would always be the
dominant culture. Malcolm X and the Black Muslims
were keen to promote segregation on these grounds,
and wanted to power to make change happen for
themselves, not to be ‘given’ equality as and when
whites felt like it.
The percentage of Black Americans in prison was high in
proportion to the black population, a sad legacy of
slavery and the cycle of poverty resulting from centuries
of exploitation. At the bottom of society with no hope of
progressing, it was easy for young Black Americans to fall
into crime. Nonetheless, the police would stop and
arrest a high percentage of Black Americans, whether
guilty or not. The Watts Riots of 1965 were sparked off
by police manhandling a drink-driver. Police brutality in
the South was far from uncommon.
New Zealand in the 1970s