Can you believe it...

In the past two weeks New Zealanders have been sickened to hear the abuse and torture endured by 3yr old Nia Glassie. Used as a wrestling toy, tied to the clothesline and spun till she flew off, placed in a tumble drier and other awful things at the hands of her extended family. My own tears streamed as I watched and listened to the news reports. Her broken body gave up on Friday just gone when she died in Aucklands Starship hospital.

Lobby groups For the Sake of Our Children and Family First organised a 3min silent protest today at 12:12pm (read about it here...) Family First spokesman Bob McCoskrie said the three minutes represented "the three short years" of Nia's life, and the time mirrored the 12 children who died from child abuse each year in New Zealand.

...But Awa said engaging in korero (talk) and singing songs was a more appropriate approach. "The silence proposed by a coalition of non-Maori organisations is counter-productive," Mr Tautoko said. Awa is advocating "whanau-based solutions" to violence in Maori communities and said people who made noise would send a clearer message of support to those communities. "We have had many non-Maori broadcasting what they think is wrong with Maori people and whanau in the last week," Mr Tautoko said.

"While we appreciate their concern, non-Maori need to recognise the following fundamentals: this is not a Maori problem, so much as it is a colonisation problem, and Maori communities must lead the development of solutions."

quote taken from NZ Herald (same article as above link) 8/8/07

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at Awa's response. Get it together - your both trying to highlight the same issue! Silence or noise - be united! Its not a fight of Maori vs non-Maori anti abuse groups - Its a fight against child abuse in the interests of saving more of our children from suffering such abuse as Nia endured. Its not only Maori children who suffer child abuse.

Sigh