Bill to overturn racist New Zealand citizenship law drawn

[Scarlet Rose]

A Green Party member's bill was drawn this week which would overturn a citizenship law which was passed in 1982. So at this point it is still awaiting first reading, but it will be interesting to see how parties vote. It should be a given that the Labour party will vote in favour of it given their apology and acknowledgement of the racism directed at the Pacifica communities in New Zealand during the dawn raids era. Not that the racism ended there. Unsure how National and Act will go.

It was during the 1980s when a Samoan woman was charged with overstaying in the country that she made the claim that this wasn't possible by virtue of her being a New Zealand citizen by default. The privy council agreed with her argument and her citizenship was recognized. The reasoning being that when New Zealand citizenship came into law in 1949, prior to that it was simply British citizenship because of our status as a British colony. Consequently criteria for New Zealand citizenship was British citizenship by birth or naturalization. Western Samoa as a country administered by New Zealand had its citizens recognized in New Zealand law as natural born British citizens. The privy council then found this rendered all citizens of Western Samoa born between 1924 and 1949 to be New Zealand citizens. The government of the time responded by rushing through legislation which specified that it didn't apply to Western Samoans.

Bill looks to address Dawn Raids-linked injustice

A new Member's Bill looks to fix a 40-year-old outcome of the anti-Pacific racism of the Dawn Raids era, restoring the right to New Zealand citizenship for a generation of Samoan people.

www.rnz.co.nz

Privy Council rules on Samoan citizenship

When the Privy Council granted New Zealand citizenship to Western Samoans born since 1924, the government did not accept this decision.

nzhistory.govt.nz

New Zealand citizenship established

The British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 (the order of the terms showed their relative importance) gave New Zealand citizenship to all current residents who had been either born British subjects or later naturalised.

nzhistory.govt.nz

 

[Webster]

*sighs* Oh great, another Windrush...

Windrush scandal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Black Angel]

The idea of coming on to other people land and then dictating who does or doesn't belong has always been lost on me..

Like how do you just do that anyway?

I'm sure they had guns, much like they did here and on the African continent, but I mean morally speaking?

It just goes to show that racism is the same regardless of where it takes place.

The struggle is the same too and this shit has got to stop.. I hope it does in my lifetime..

 

[Webster]

Like how do you just do that anyway?

I want to say you don't, but that'd be flippant.
What I will say, Angel, is that since the first humans walked the earth and formed into groups/communities they've tried to (and often succeeded) in conquering other groups/communities. It has happened numerous times in the past involving practically every group on earth and it will probably continue long after we've gone to our respective graves; what we can do is acknowledge it and work to make sure it doesn't continue.