Part of my speech so far

My name is Damian Seeto this is James and Adam. And what we decided to base our presentation on is Joshua Iosefo’s excellent spoken poetry called Brown Brother. Joshua was a prefect at Mt Roskill Grammar School (the same school I went to) and he was required to come up with an inspirational speech to talk to the entire school. What a speech it was! The speech itself is a commentary to how “brown people” are always negatively stereotyped, but there is more to the speech than just that as Joshua explained to me when I interviewed him.

Let’s find out more as we analyze both Brown Brother and its author Joshua Iosefo.   

Joshua’s grandparents migrated to New Zealand back in the ‘60s. He himself was raised in South Auckland in the suburb of Otahuhu. But because of his Dad’s work, they moved to Mount Roskill where he went to Mount Roskill Grammar. Joshua was a successful student becoming a prefect and of course, made up the famous speech called “Brown Brother” in the process.

Being a brown person, Joshua is proud of his heritage, but he also knows the negative images that are portrayed/stereotyped from his people. Joshua’s main inspiration for writing the speech in the first place was the lack of inspiration for his people. He thought maybe this speech might uplift and motivate people to achieve something greater than what society expects them to do.  But he also said that “stereotypes have their place”.  His main concern was the balance of the representation of his people.

What is interesting about the lyrics in “Brown Brother” is that he said the “whole speech” is based on something he had gone through personally or a close friend of family member. Racism may not be as prevalent as it was back in the old days, but this does not mean it doesn’t still exist in some capacity. We may not see the type of racism where brown people aren’t able to walk down the street or take the bus, but they’re still disadvantaged and seen differently (even in NZ).

The most revealing comment Joshua made about “Brown Brother” is that the poem wasn’t intended to be a protest about the way brown people are portrayed in society. He told me the intention 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”.

This is true as there was a University of Auckland study that focused on teenagers can how they feel about racial discrimination. Maori and Samoan students valued their cultures’ heritage, family and having their own language. When it came to the negatives, Maori didn’t like being labeled as “dumb” and the media showcasing them as violent criminals. Samoan students also feel that they’re beng labeled as “gangster”.

When it came to Pakeha students, some of the things they felt discrimnated against was that they were labeled as being “racists”. They also felt guilty about the bad things their ancestors would have done in the past. As for Chinese students, they didn’t like being stereotyped as being “brainy”, having strict parents and being bad drivers.

Both Joshua and myself feel that some ethnicities need balanced in terms of their representation in society and the media. He says we need more diversity when it comes to storytelling instead of just sticking to the one stereotype. He mentioned that Polynesians were always stereotyped as unintelligent or illiterate.

The response for Brown Brother was huge as it became a popular video on Youtube and attracted a lot of outside attention. This includes large companies/events like TEDx and people like Owen Glenn. He also featured on Campbell Live to recite the poem in a pre-recorded segment. But he finds it really humbling that students and other normal people have reached out to him to share their stories