The Racist Lie New Zealanders Taught Their Children
The genocide used to justify colonization
Up until last week, I believed a lie taught for over 100 years to New Zealanders about our country’s historical origins. Even though historians tried to set the record straight as early as the 1920's, teachers, parents, and politicians continued to tell the same story: a story of the cannibalistic wiping out of an entire people group.
The lie that refuses to leave
For most of the 20th century, schools taught that the original people of New Zealand, the Moriori, were a red-headed tribe from Melanesia. They lived peacefully in New Zealand until the early 14th century when hundreds of Maori arrived on the beaches in canoes (waka) ready for war.
They attacked the Moriori, killing and eating them, until the entire group was wiped out. Moriori, according to the history books, were extinct. Some teachers claimed they never existed at all.
It’s a story that thousands of New Zealanders still believe today. There are a number of issues with the story, but the main problem is this: the thousands of individuals who identify as Moriori are sick of being told they don’t exist.
