Eyes Wide Open: Exploring the Limitations, Obligations, and Opportunities of Privilege; Critical Reflections on Decol2020 as an Anti-Racism Activist Event in Aotearoa New Zealand

Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti) signed in 1840 by the British Crown and a number of indigenous hapu (subtribes) collectively named Maori has been widely positioned as the foundation document for the colonial state of Aotearoa New Zealand. Devastating consequences of breaches of Te Tiriti form an injustice perpetuated through overt and covert institutional racism. Such racism undermines Maori sovereign status, harms the wellbeing of contemporary Maori, contradicts a justice aspired to among democratic nations, and diminishes the justification of ourselves as a just people. As authors the demand to eradicate such racism is influenced by many Maori leaders whose efforts to honour Te Tiriti have never waned. We describe Decol2020 as a creative collaboration among community and scholarly activists intent on transforming racism. We offer this paper as a contribution to how such collaborations may be invigorated wherever any institutionalized injustice requires redress.