D Dawson

IN answer to Jack Karetai Barrett’s letter (October 8) concerning his opinion on “why we as tangata whenua identify as Māori and don’t usually include our non-Māori genealogy”, I think it is disrespectful to your non-Māori genealogy considering you would not exist without your father.

You say your whakapapa connects us to the land, meaning your Māori genealogy, inferring that only Māori have a connection to the land in New Zealand.

Many European settlers developed this country and have the same connection to the land as Māori.

Māori and European both would not exist without the land.

My connection with the land goes back 60 more years and I have not lost my connection to where my family has come from.

There is a small group of Māori activists that believe no-one lived in New Zealand before Māori arrived from Hawaiki-Taiwan and that Māori did not cede sovereignty, and that all Māori’s problems are caused by the colonists.

These are the people causing racial division and being supported by the Labour Party and the Greens.

I think this is very sad because more Māori and non-Māori are very respectful of each others’ cultures and get on well.

To say that some non-Māori are destroying the environment to make money is a very bold statement that could equally apply to Māori.

Respect and acknowledgement should be given to all cultures. We are all New Zealanders.