Hīkoi to Parliament: It’s about rights, not race – Lady Tureiti Moxon

What was most overwhelming was how many people came and how these hīkoi united our people. Māori and non-Māori had a positive experience of being together as one.

It is a statement that this is not just about the Treaty Principles Act; it’s about confronting the history of Māori being treated as second-class citizens in our own country since the signing of Te Tiriti.

This isn’t about race – this is about rights. Our right to live as Māori, to be Māori and to express ourselves as Māori in our own country.

While the government may pay lip service by saying “we are all one,” it is signaling through its actions that the Crown is in charge and we are not. And from their perspective, it’s so simple.

The organizers who took on the challenge made sure everyone who was there, including our babies from Te Kōhanga Reo o Te Kohao o Te Ngira, was safe, happy and cared for.

Tributes should be paid to all those non-Māori who came in their thousands to support the day’s kaupapa.

The purpose of standing united in our aspirations for our tamariki is so that they do not have to live in a world where there are kōrero of the Crown that diminishes their tapu and their mana.

What we are saying is that Te Tiriti did not arise from the Crown’s acquisition of Māori. It was born on the basis that the Crown and Māori would stand together for the betterment of both people.

But unfortunately, as we know, when it comes to the inequality, deprivation and negative statistics in education, social affairs, welfare, healthcare and housing, we have always been seen by many as undeserving.

In legislation or even in the conversations we have with the Crown, it chooses not to recognize Tino rangatiratanga, even recently in the Pae Ora legislation.

Yet we were guaranteed in our covenant that we would express our sovereignty and the right to exercise mana motuhake, but the Crown continues to deny this completely.

That is what this day, this movement is about. We really exist, we belong to this land and we have rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

I share Eru’s view that the colonial blueprint has been truly effective across the world, but has never taken into account the resilience of our people and the ultimate power of our aroha.

It created a home for Pakehā to live here, to live in peace, so that we can all thrive in a world where Te Tiriti is prospering, a world where we are all prospering.

It includes the dreams of our tūpuna, the dreams we embodied on the hikoi – thriving as one, living our best lives.

So now we go to Wellington to stand in solidarity with all those who will descend on Parliament on Tuesday, because we all know that what is happening to us right now is wrong.

Te Tiriti exists and always has, and that is why we marched yesterday.