1) Tell me more about yourself. Where you come from, and your family background.
So I am born and raised in South Auckland, to be specific Otahuhu. My mother fell pregnant with me at the age of 19 so a borderline teenage pregnancy I guess? My parents then married at the age of 20. My mother now is a Teacher and my father is a Sergent Officer at East Tamaki Polic Station. I also have a younger brother who is 3 years of age. My Grandparents are still alive and well and migrated to NZ in 1959 in their early 20s. They both lived on a farm in Taihape owned by Pakeha (The Jensens) and were taught the Pakeha way.
2) What inspired you to write this speech in the first place?
The inspiration for Brown Brother was the lack of inspiration among my people. If that makes sense?
3) What was your intended audience for this speech?
There was actually no intended audience for the speech. To be honest I wrote it just for the sake of writing I didn't know what to do with it once I finished. It was definatley a God-inspired moment, a mix of frustrations and a lot of surfing spoken word poetry on Youtube. I was in the lounge watching t.v then something just hit me! I walked straight into my room and started to write... an hour later Brown Brother was born. But I didn't know what to do with it. So I shared it with my parents once I emerged from my room, and they encouraged me to share it at school- So I did, and it got an audience I guess? lol
4) Did you have any personal experiences with the themes you mentioned in the speech?
Pretty much the WHOLE speech is based on something I have gone through personally or something that a close friend or family member has gone through. Ask me what themes relate to what part in my life and I can give you a more specific answer :)
5) How did MRGS react to your speech?
They pretty much didn't know what hit them, I didn't either. It was EXTREMELY risky what I did. I was seriously freaking out before and after I did it. I was actually only supposed to do the speech once at our Monday assembly (we have two assemblies because there are way too many students) But when I did it the Principal called me into his office and asked if I was able to do it again on Tuesday. ( the Tuesday assembly was the one that was filmed). I think it brought a sense of encouragment for everyone. My Principal actually invited me into his office afterwards and just asked me "What can we do as a school to help our students?" He heard the message and wanted to take action. Since then there have been homework centres put in place after school to help students really achieve.
6) What is your favorite part of your own speech?
My favourite part is probably the last length of the piece because that's where there is encouragment and there is an edification of the people.
7) Did you intend for your speech to change people's attitudes to racial stereotypes?
In short- no. If it did then that's awesome but the intention behind the piece was to basically let ALL people of different backgrounds know that they are capable. Sometimes all people need is someone to say they can actually do it- and that little belief moves mountains.
8) Did you expect the speech to garner so much exposure?
Not at all! I had no idea what was going to happen afterwards. It kind of just hit me full force, my Mother had to be my manager because there was just so many requests coming left,right and centre.
9) Do you feel that the media and TV shows have promoted and reinforced negative Pacific Island/Maori stereotypes?
I don't think they have promoted- but it's what they and we are just used to. Before we start shooting down misrepresentations we need to understand the media aswell. These 'negative' representations have their place and I understand that completely. Steroetypes are versions of truth and each stereotype does have it's place. My main concern was the balance of the representation.
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