It's black, it's white

Paul Henry - if you google him, you can see the furore he's created. I refer to the statement he made about our governor general.

A lot of people are saying online that "NZ has gone PC mad!" or "Dudeee lighten up like don't be so PC", "Here comes the PC police".

But really do they know what it means to be part of a nation? Do they know what it means have an identity associated with a nation? I suppose not, since most of the commenters are likely to be white, middle class (ok, I do actually think a lot of the commenters are idiots) Kiwis. They would have no idea how a person 'feels' their labelled race, merely because they don't look like a majority of their counterparts in the country they were born and bred in.

I come from a certain country where I don't feel my identity as part of the country. I do acknowledge and I am proud to be part of the peoples of the country. I do not however feel as though I am part of the country. I feel it when people of my race are looked over for scholarships. When a certain other race is given preferential treatment. The fact I can never be the prime minister (if I wanted to anyway) though I may have lived there all my life. Though it is fact that that country is the place where "tanah tumpah darahku". That is one reason why I will not consider working in my 'home' country long term.

I even feel incensed when a certain misguided, under educated and close minded person told a person of my race to "go home".

This compounded with the fact that I have lived half my life overseas. I am two halfs and never a whole, despite my genetic heritage. I know I may never be looked upon as belonging to either culture. But that's fine. I know who I am and where I belong, my heart is with both nations.

As humans I believe we want to know where we belong. Who we fit with, where we fit. That's why people have OEs (in NZ anyway), or do at least a bit of soul searching during their life to see who they are. People need a sense of belonging - we are all community driven. No man is an island. 


Calling attention to race and nationality this to it is unhelpful and possibly detrimental.

Nationality is determined by where your heart is. Not by how you look.