Letter to the W(h)anganui Chronicle in response to an article on the reaction to the Tupoho proposal to change the name of the town and the district to Whanganui (Wanganui Chronicle Article).
It is with dismay that I read again, the opinions held by many in this town regarding the H in Whanganui.
In a city where there are still statues celebrating victory over the 'savages', war memorials celebrating only the colonial soldiers who died in the NZ Land Wars, cannons on the hill, a courthouse on the Pa and a boatshed named after a gunboat; any notion of cultural healing seems 150 years away.
Whatever the reasons are for the name or the semantics of it, it is important to those who named it, and that is enough. The fact is that when living with another culture, getting the language and names right is essential to understanding, respect and creating partnership between peoples.
The issue should never have gone under the crass hammer of a referendum. 13670 people said no to a name change, this figure represents only 44% of the eligible voting population. To assume that everyone who didn't vote agreed, to produce a figure of 82%, is a serious abuse of statistics.
It is time for this city to discuss this issue seriously, put aside its xenophobia, and realise that the way to cultural healing is through compromise and respect and that the result of cultural healing is something we can all celebrate, together.
No comments:
Post a Comment