On the weekend a reader e-mailed us about an organisation called Maori Vibes.
It’s a office share space in Whangarei openly saying it’s for Maori only. It’s on the main street of the business district.
According to their website Maori Vibes is a “dedicated co-working space for Maori in business.”
It appears to be a private organisation and not funded by the government so that is one positive. However, it also appears to be a race-based organisation that excludes all other races.
We all know that a Pakeha Vibes, Pakeha only shared workspace for Pakeha entrepreneurs would be picketed and cancelled for being racist.
If there were an Indian only or a Chinese only or German only club they would be called out as bigoted, exclusionary and racist so why do we tolerate one rule for everyone else but not for Maori?
The problem isn’t that the woman who founded this wants to support other Maori businesses. The problem is that she appears to be excluding businesses because of the race of their owners.
She could have helped the businesses that she wanted to help without making it an exclusive race-based club.
On Sunday I e-mailed Maori Vibes the following message:
Hello
I am the editor of The BFD and I would like to know if Maori Vibes excludes businesses who might want to use your services based on the ethnicity of their owner/s?
If your service is for Maori business owners only how do you determine if they are Maori? For example, if my mother has one Maori parent and my father is not Maori would I be able use your service?
Can I identify as Maori without presenting any evidence that I am Maori? Do I have to look Maori to use your service? Do I need to show my family history if I do not look Maori but have Maori relatives?
I realise these questions may seem strange but I am trying to determine on what basis (if you do exclude people based on their race) you decide whether a business can use your services.
Kind regards
Juana
I will update this article with their reply if I hear back from them.
With your help Discrimination of the Day will become a regular segment on The BFD. A reader drew our attention to this allegedly discriminatory organisation and we will highlight any others that our readers send to us.
Let’s highlight the racism and discrimination inside New Zealand together because it is NOT OK!
There is NOTHING positive about discrimination.
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