Waitangi Day

I was telling people that I would have never been allowed this close to the VP or PM without a ton of security guards or an appointment to see them. I love how personable they both were to me and genuinely interested in my research and my time here in Aotearoa. 

We listened to various speeches regarding the relationships between Māori and all citizens of New Zealand. It was nice to see the PM, and VP attending events like this recognizing the importance of Māori leaders, communities, and the government's responsibility to listen to traditional knowledge and to maintain good ties and relationships with the original people of this land. So often, in the U.S., high-ranking leaders in Washington D.C., and even state elected leaders only listen to Native people or meet with them when election time rolls around. Our issues that affect Indian Country are not addressed often, perhaps because we are such a minority in our own original homelands, and our numbers do not make a difference to have them be addressed and resolved between tribal nations and the United States government. Ever since Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids were elected into Congress it has been inspiring and hopeful that our voices can and should be heard.

Waitangi Day left me feeling hopeful for our own relationships with our government. I am left to wonder what America would look like with our own version(s) of a Waitangi Treaty with tribes of the U.S.? Or if the USA kept to the original treaties they signed. To date the U.S.

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