Messages

[Sky-News Reporter Punished for Chink Accent]

Sky-News Reporter Punished for Chink Accent

Joe Wheeler fake accent: Race relations commissoner condemns mockery as 'hurtful, unacceptable'

George Heagney | Stuff (NZ) | 3 April 2021

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300268714/joe-wheeler-fake-accent-race-relations-commissoner-condemns-mockery-as-hurtful-unacceptable

The race relations commissioner is condemning Sky Sport presenter Joe Wheeler for imitating a Japanese accent during a live broadcast.

Meng Foon said such off-hand comments and racist micro-aggressions could stack up and become hurtful.

Wheeler has faced intense criticism for the way he talked about a Japanese Highlanders player after the team's Super Rugby win over the Crusaders on Friday night.

"He was leally impressive, wasn't he? He was leally, leally good," Wheeler asked Mitchell Hunt about the performance of Hunt's Highlanders team-mate Kazuki Himeno.

Race relations commissioner Meng Foon says micro-aggressions by Whites need to stop

Wheeler later apologised online.

Foon said mocking anyone's accent or language was hurtful to those people.

"These sorts of comments are best not heard nowadays. There's a huge sensitivity on racism issues now going forward, and I know the younger generation is definitely not tolerating this."

He said with a change in society's values and relationships with diverse communities, language and accents should be respected.

People learning to properly pronounce Māori words was an important example.

Foon said even off-hand comments were bad and a stereotype, and even if someone laughed a comment off, they could be hurting underneath.

"All the micro-aggressions that accumulate, even though they may be small, they do become quite tiresome and hurtful to the people receiving them, so these new micro-aggressions need to stop."

Joe Wheeler, left, has grovelled for putting on an Asian accent

Foon pointed to the Human Rights Commission's Voice of Racism website, which voices the experiences of more than 200 people in New Zealand who have encountered racism, as upsetting examples of racist comments.

He said learning and respecting other cultures was important.

Massey University professor Paul Spoonley, who researches racism, said humour was a difficult area.

"I would have thought we're sensitised to how offensive mocking somebody by using a fake accent is.

"Also I guess in this day and age, why would anybody think that it's OK?"

He said comments like Wheeler's could offend a lot of people.

"I assume part of the audience will have thought there's nothing wrong with it and thought it's some political correctness gone mad."

Wheeler apologised on Twitter shortly after the incident and said he stuffed up. He said he had spoken to Himeno and apologised to him and the team.

"I absolutely accept this is not the standard expected of the sideline team. I've got some work to do obviously, but I'm absolutely committed to doing better."

Himeno replied to the tweet, accepting the apology.

"It's ok joe. Let's enjoy and celebrate our big victory. Let's go landers!!"

Sky chief executive said in a statement to Stuff the comments made by Wheeler were disappointing.

"They are not who we are at Sky, and we need to do better. Joey Wheeler has apologised sincerely and is genuinely very sorry and remorseful for his mistake; and we are working closely with Joey and will continue to reinforce what is expected of all of our team.

"We will learn from this, and we will keep striving to reflect and respect everyone in our community."

[NZ New Plymouth Airport a safe space for Fags & other Alphabet Freaks]

NZ New Plymouth Airport a safe space for Fags & other Alphabet Freaks

https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/124355069/new-plymouth-airport-a-safe-space-for-lgbtqi-community

Excerpt: New Plymouth Airport has joined a list of a dozen Taranaki locations recognised as a safe space for the LGBTQI+ community.

In an emailed statement, the airport said it was now registered with the Safe Space Alliance, a non-profit started by New Plymouth-born artist and advocate for the LGBTQI+ community Shannon Novak.

Among the other safe locations in Taranaki are Puke Ariki, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/ Len Lye Centre, the Gover St Gallery, Centre City Shopping Centre and the Taranaki Retreat.

To become safe spaces an organisation or site must apply online and be accepted by the alliance of faggotry, which verifies each place's safety with members of the LGBTQI+ community in the area.

In a joint statement with the airport, Novak said a safe space was one where the LGBTQI+ community can freely express themselves without fear.

It does not guarantee 100 per cent safety, rather, it's a space that "has your back" if an incident (violence, bullying, or hate speech) were to occur, he said.

Butt Pirates Approve

"So if I walked into the airport holding hands with my partner, and someone started hurling homophobic abuse at me - I would feel confident knowing I could alert someone in the airport to the behaviour and be supported. "

Airport safety and security manager Paul Tench said being a safe space dovetailed with the airport's equality policy, which strives to ensure a non-judgmental environment.

Anyone caught breaching the policy could be removed from the space.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/Q1n82AOwePkO/

These muds have been paid 50 million dollars in damages it works out to a million per mud and they still want more. And they want more money for medical expenses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZ1O4MCxfM

[NZ has 'abandoned me', elderly father of terrorist attack victim says]

NZ has 'abandoned me', elderly father of terrorist attack victim says

Jody O'Callaghan | Stuff.co.nz (NZ) | 30 March 2021

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124684088/nz-has-abandoned-me-elderly-father-of-terrorist-attack-victim-says

Elderly Pakistani parents of a Christchurch terrorist attack victim say they have received no support from the government and are struggling without their son's salary.

Accountant Syed Areeb Ahmed sent $2200 a month to his elderly parents in Karachi, Pakistan, before he was killed at Masjid An Nur (Al Noor Mosque) in the March 15, 2019 attack.

His father Syed Ayaz Ahmed is now calling for the New Zealand government to step up to support him and his wife as their money fast runs out.

He is among several overseas family of victims who have spoken to Stuff about feeling abandoned by "cruel" government criteria that only supports families within Aotearoa through ACC and other agency support.

Andrew Little, the minister in charge of the response to the Royal Commission report into the attack, said the Government had provided "significant" support and the "Royal Commission did not make a recommendation to pay compensation to overseas families".

It comes after the Human Rights Commission released a report calling for the Government to abide by United Nations terrorism response guidelines and offer reparations and redress to victims.

Ahmed was in tears as he explained the pain of losing his only son – a "loving, caring, and intelligent man" – who the family was "totally dependent on" for income.

He was proud when his son was invited to work for professional services firm PwC in Christchurch, and his son sent half his salary home to his parents – as was custom of Pakistani sons.

Ahmed and his wife have received no financial or social support from the Government, in a country his son knew as fair and just, he said.

"I feel I have been abandoned by the Government," he told Stuff.

He is grateful for donations from the public, which he used to buy the home he and his family rented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIEtzM4kHbs

But those donations are fast depleting, and he is scared of their future in a country with no elderly welfare system.

Their only other child, a daughter, is newly married and in a family financially struggling amid Covid-19-hit Karachi.

Little said ACC death benefits for dependents could be paid to people based overseas – including funeral grants, survivor grants, weekly compensation and childcare costs for partners or spouses.

Under the legislation, someone could only be paid weekly compensation based on their child's earnings if they were a financially dependent on them due to their "physical or mental condition".

Ahmed said he wrote to ACC for support, but he was told he did not qualify.

Mariam Gul lost her parents Karam Bibi, 63, and Ghulam Hussain, 66, during Friday prayers at Christchurch's Linwood mosque, along with her only sibling Zeshan Raza, 38.

She said there were "multiple families" abroad feeling neglected by a "cruel" government offering nothing in support.

"Nobody wants to fight for us there in New Zealand.

Victims were still victims no matter where they were living, she said.

She believed the attack was a failure of the government.

Community advisor Raf Manji could see why some victim families overseas might be feeling the Government had "washed their hands of them", particularly because ACC offered them no support.

"We know the ACC model is not the appropriate model in response to a terrorist attack."

Associate Minister for Social Development Priyanca Radhakrishnan said only Christchurch-based victims would be considered for the collective impact board currently seeking nominations.

But she expected the board, set up to help communicate community needs to agencies, would "ensure their voice is heard and responded to".