There's context missing here. I'm not going to even pretend to know about New Zealand culture or it's history in relation to racism.
But in the US, institutional racism is very much a thing. It does not mean "only white people can be racist". It means, in simple terms, that the historical treatment of people of color - particularly black people - in the US has led to a structural imbalance when it comes to white people in power in comparison to black people in power (wealth, careers, politics, even media). Same with men in comparison to women.
Again, that does not mean black people can't be racist or women can't be sexist. They're two different things.
New Zealand has this in spades too, and it's widely accepted (by anyone either mildly informed (or not racist)) and by definitely shown overwhelmingly by academics. Colonisation lead to disempowerment and disenfranchisement for Māori, their lands were taken often by force or coercion, as well as their culture and customs even outlawed for the most part.
The resulting impacts are shown statistically with Māori overrepresented in crime, health, economic etc statistics.
It seems to be a recurring theme for any group of people who have been marginalised by another.
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u/Clarice_Ferguson Dec 11 '19
There's context missing here. I'm not going to even pretend to know about New Zealand culture or it's history in relation to racism.
But in the US, institutional racism is very much a thing. It does not mean "only white people can be racist". It means, in simple terms, that the historical treatment of people of color - particularly black people - in the US has led to a structural imbalance when it comes to white people in power in comparison to black people in power (wealth, careers, politics, even media). Same with men in comparison to women.
Again, that does not mean black people can't be racist or women can't be sexist. They're two different things.