Throughout the 1970s, Pacific people and families across Tāmaki Makaurau were awoken at dawn by police squads sent to track down illegal overstayers and deport them. Known as the Dawn Raids and enforced by both Labour and National governments, this deportation programme actively discriminated against Pacific communities, since the majority of overstayers at the time were from Australia, Great Britain, and South Africa.
In this blog, Dr Andrea Low (Associate Curator, Pacific) discusses the role of the Polynesian Panthers and their activism against the Dawn Raids.
Founded in 1971, the Polynesian Panther Party was started by a group of six young men: Fred Schmidt, Vaughan Sanf, Nooroa Teavae, Eddie Williams, Paul Dapp and Will ‘Ilolahia. Taking inspiration from the Black Panthers in America, the group were influenced by the writing of Bobby Seale, leader and co-founder of the Black Panthers, in particular his book Seize the Time (1970).
The Polynesian Panthers were young; a mix of urban Pacific and Māori activists all in their late teens. Some, like Alec Toleafoa and Melani Anae, were still at high school. Activated by their response to issues of racism, discrimination and housing, they worked to empower the voices of people affected by inequality and innovated many community organisations taken for granted today. The Tenancy Tribunal, a cornerstone of rental agreements between landlords and tenants grew out of the tenancy rights activism of the Polynesian Panthers. They established food co-ops, homework centres, advocated for language inclusivity, and provided legal advice. In one well known action, the Panthers slow walked the intersection at the top of Franklin Road after a school child was killed at the crossing; traffic was held up for hours as the Panthers protested and demanded that traffic lights and pedestrian crossings be installed.
Their headquarters were above what is now the ASB on the corner of Ponsonby and College Hill and the late Miriama Rauhihi Ness was their first full-time worker. A plaque installed on the street in 2016 commemorated 45 years of the Panthers and this year also saw their 50th anniversary celebrations coincide with the Panthers demand for a state apology for the damage and hurt inflicted by the Dawn Raids of 1973-76.
Instituted by Prime Minister Norman Kirk’s Labour caucus, the Dawn Raids were continued by Robert Muldoon’s National government who promised to ‘get tough’ on law and order and immigration. The notorious raids took place in the early hours of the morning or late at night when police would enter homes to convict and deport so-called ‘overstayers.’ Dragged out of their homes and sometimes schools, individuals and families were routinely demeaned and physically abused by police. NZ Police were also instructed to stop people in the street and ask for evidence of their right to be in the country, but the people they targeted in both tactics were overwhelmingly Pacific despite Pacific people making up only one third of those overstaying their visas. The remainder, made up of British, Australian and South African nationals, were not subjected to the same treatment.
As Dr Melani Anae has said about the raids, they were: ‘the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand government in New Zealand’s history’. Famously the Polynesian Panthers made retaliatory raids on the homes of National Party ministers Bill Birch and Frank Gill. They also provided legal advice to victims and through their Ministry of Information, went on speaking tours, put our press releases and published a newspaper, Panther’s Rap running a campaign to counter the bias in the press and official government statements.
Adopting the uniform of their brothers and sisters in the US, the Polynesian Panthers wore leather jackets and berets. Island shirts located the protest movement in the South Pacific and Aotearoa New Zealand. A catch cry of the Panthers is ‘once a Panther, always a Panther’ and the work that those young activists from 1971 engage in today is just as vital as it ever was.
The formal apology for the Dawn Raids is scheduled for Sunday 1 August 2021.
Further reading from the Museum Library
Edited by Melani Anae; with Lautofa Iuli and Leilani Burgoyne
'The Panthers organised prison visit programmes and sporting and debating teams for inmates; provided a halfway-house service for young men released from prison; ran homework centres; and offered 'people's loans', legal aid and food banks that catered for 600 families at their height. Drawing on interviews, memoirs, poetry, newspaper articles and critical analysis, Polynesian Panthers is a thought-provoking account of this period in New Zealand' - publisher information.
by Pauline Vaeluaga Smith
Like many 13-year-old girls, Sofia's main worries are how she can earn enough pocket money to buy the groovy go-go boots that are all the rage, and if she will die of embarrassment giving a speech she has to do for school! It comes as a surprise to Sofia and her family when her big brother, Lenny, talks about protests, overstayers and injustices against Pacific Islanders. Through her spirited and heartfelt diary entries, we join Sofia as she navigates life in the 1970s and is inspired by the courageous and tireless work of the Polynesian Panthers as they encourage immigrant families across New Zealand to stand up for their rights"--Publisher information.
A finalist at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young People in the Esther Glen, Junior Fiction and Best First Book categories. It was the winner of the Best First Book for 2018. Dawn Raid was also selected as the #NZreadaloud 2018 text for year 5-6 students.
by Stephanie Gibson, Matariki Williams and Puawai Cairns
Protest in Aotearoa New Zealand told through objects and ephemera that activists have deployed in fighting for environmental, and social issues. From badges to placards, from photography, letter writing and cartoons to quilts and chainsaws, the authors reflect on almost 200 years of ‘resistance and persistence’.
by Dr Melani Anae
Dr Melani Anae recalls the radical activism of Auckland’s Polynesian Panthers. In solidarity with the US Black Panther Party, the Polynesian Panthers was founded in response to the racist treatment of Pacific Islanders in the era of the Dawn Raids. Central to the group’s philosophy was a three-point ‘platform’ of peaceful resistance, Pacific empowerment and educating New Zealand about persistent and systemic racism.