Lorraine McLeod’s new book was written after she was challenged by Sir Toby Curtis

It took McLeod a year to collect all the interviews and chapters.

She first approached her neighbour, Mitzy Nairn, co-founder of the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination, an anti-racist campaigner during the Dawn Raids era and Bastion Point.

She spoke first to Mitzy and then to her husband, Raymond Nairn, as the two had been involved in anti-racist work all their lives. From there, the couple connected her with others and “it grew like a snowball.”

“At Tā Toby Curtis’ tangi, Amohaere Tangitu was there and she talked about people she knew in Whakatāne and so it just grew organically,” she said.

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Where the book began

Richard Shaw wrote about why it pays to learn your family story, which made me look at mine. He discovered when he was 50 that his family had come from Ireland, dispossessed the land there because of the famine, and then came here and robbed the Māori of them. – Lorraine McLeod

She said history was the starting point and set the tone.

“The 1961 Hunn Report talked about Māori being at the edge of the margins of any rating; health, housing, medicine, justice,” said McLeod, “All those things horrified Mitzy and it horrifies me too because it’s not much different now.”

Pat Seddon wrote about his work at the Auckland District Health Board, where he was CEO twice and the second time he wanted to challenge the culture and conduct in-depth research into the hospital system.

One thing that shocked Seddon was that a Māori and Pākehā woman with the same condition would receive different treatment: a Pākehā woman could get through her treatment in 39 days, but for a Māori woman it could take 300 days.

Author Lorraine McLeod hopes Act leader David Seymour will read her new book, Leave Your Big Boots at the Door: Pākehā Confronting Racism Against Māori. Photo / Andrew MacDonald

McLeod said she hoped David Seymour would read the book and take note of Pat Magill’s section, because Magill said Aotearoa needed to understand and honor Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Magill said the country’s history should be known to the nation and it would be a great day when tangata Whenua would be free to define their reality in a way that supported them.

When asked what she thought kept Pākehā from confronting their own racism, McLeod said it was knowing their own culture first.

“If Pākehā knew what their own cultures led them to believe, do and act, they would understand much more clearly how different their culture is from Māoridom and could look at it more objectively.”

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I think over time (education) would go a long way in helping Pākehā understand that they are the settlers. They did this and need to correct it. – Lorraine McLeod

She also said Pākehā needed to understand the history of this country.

As a teacher, she said it was good that history was finally being taught in schools, and she hoped the current government would not take over.

Asked about solutions Pākehā could bring to tackling racism in Aotearoa, she cited works focused on the constitutional underpinnings. He Puapua and Matike Mai were documents that needed a better hearing, as well as a 2011 report from a constitutional advisory panel.

McLeod believed that those who join kotahitanga would encourage discussion about institutional racism and personal racism in the community, as well as small things in everyday life to combat racism.

• Leave your big boots at the door: Pākehā confront anti-Māori racism is available from bookstores or from Potton & Burton.

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