Standing up in Aotearoa: the Panthers, the Dawn Raids and a petition for te reo

Ideas about civil rights travelled around the world. In Aotearoa in the early 1970s, young Pacific and Māori people watched the movement in the United States and asked: what about here?

The Polynesian Panthers

On 16 June 1971, six young Pacific Islanders in Auckland started the Polynesian Panthers. Their base was Ponsonby, then the heart of Auckland's Pacific community. They spoke out against racism and police treatment of Pacific people. They also ran homework centres, gave legal advice, helped set up a food co-op and drove families to visit relatives in prison.

The Dawn Raids

In the 1950s and 1960s New Zealand invited Pacific workers to fill jobs in factories. When the economy slowed in the 1970s, some people blamed Pacific migrants. From 1974 to 1976, police and immigration officers searched Pacific homes for 'overstayers', people whose permits had run out, often very early in the morning. People from many backgrounds overstayed, but Pacific families were targeted.

A petition for te reo Māori

By the 1970s fewer and fewer children were growing up speaking te reo Māori. Young Māori groups, including Ngā Tamatoa, the Te Reo Māori Society and the New Zealand Māori Students' Association, gathered more than 30,000 signatures asking for te reo to be taught in schools. On 14 September 1972 they carried the petition to Parliament.

That day became Māori Language Day, then Māori Language Week in 1975. In 1987 te reo Māori became an official language of New Zealand.

Standing together

The Panthers and Ngā Tamatoa supported each other, marching together against the Dawn Raids and in the 1975 Land March. Their stories show that changing a country can start with a small group of young people who refuse to stay quiet.