Personal view

In research of the Ihumātao project, I have been opened to another perspective on the topic and have learned more ways in which Te Reo is beneficial for the youth of NZ. During the Ihumātao protest there were debates between the kaumatua of the iwi and the rangatahi, where the kaumatua were telling the iwi to leave the protest and the rangatahi were obviously against this. As the kaumatua are the elders and most knowledgeable they hold a strong stance in the iwi and essentially make all of the descisions. Generally speaking, Kaumatua are very traditional and hold onto old practices and beliefs. I believe this is very important but it’s also extremely important to be aware of the current social structures and not be so sheltered which creates a devide between Maori and pakeha. Kaumatua are approached by the political parties to ask if they want to take part in descision making for things that regard land etc. But they don’t want to take part at all. In the future, when the rangatahi are old enough to take the kaumatua place, Maori poeple will be far more involved and have more of a say in political descision making and New Zealand in general. So this is why learning te reo would be an amazing skill to have as the Maori world is on it’s way up the hierarchy.

” local kaumātua Te Warena Taua from Te Kawerau a Maki, who gave his blessing for the housing development to go forward, said Ms Newton and her cousins were disrespecting their elders by not moving on from the site.” – https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/social-issues/ihum%C4%81tao-protest-kaum%C4%81tua-and-rangatahi-split-over-development/