Racist Race Relations

If there was ever a good reason for canning the Race Relations Commissioner, the latest antics of Joris De Bres would be it. Going to a conference that most of the Western world is boycotting, where the leader of one of the most intolerant societies in the world is down to deliver a one-sided diatribe on Israel, is not a particularly good look. Bad-mouthing your own country for not attending the charade is just beyond a joke. The man has no business attempting to represent us in any way.

Not that I have ever thought that the Race Relations Commissioner has ever had a useful function. I have yet to see a committee, commission or lobby group improve race relations in any way. Typically, they are divisive and  act much as the proverbial match to gasoline. Such groups tend to point out and emphasise divisions, rather than find ways to heal them. 

I have also never been able to fathom why race relations are a distinct part of the Human Rights Commission. Why is discrimination on the grounds of race somehow special? Frankly I find ageism to be a far bigger problem in New Zealand than Racism, but I don’t see an Age Relations Commissioner anywhere. I don’t see a Religious Relations Commissioner either. Not that I think any commissioners are needed.

Practically the only way to improve race relations in my experience is for people of different ethnic backgrounds to work together at something that requires teamwork. As long as the project has real meaning, as opposed to “rivers and trees” artificial team-building exercises.

I can’t see how a Racist Race Relations Commissioner can ever be a useful thing for New Zealand’s people.

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