Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon says collecting data on racism and discrimination is key to developing ways to eliminate it. (CHRIS SKELTON) Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon says collecting data on racism and discrimination is key to developing ways to eliminate it. (CHRIS SKELTON)

The Stuff survey, while not scientific, confirms racism is thriving in Aotearoa and our Māori and Muslim whanau take the biggest hits.

It also shows many feel bad about racist behaviour and are willing to call it out.

More than 2000 respondents answered 12 questions about experiences of racism in the past year, including four that invited open text responses.

An analysis of the results by Christchurch-based Research First found that two-thirds of Māori and almost half of all Pacific Island respondents reported hearing or reading offensive comments about them “very often” in the last year.

The result was much higher than racism expert Professor Paul Spoonley said he expected.

“My suspicion is that the internet has increased the possibility that offensive name-calling is used more often by keyboard warriors in a way that was not possible in the past – in casualised ways as well as full-blown racist comments.

Paul Spoonley says “Muslims have been targeted” both before and since March 15. (DAVID UNWIN) Paul Spoonley says “Muslims have been targeted” both before and since March 15. (DAVID UNWIN)

When asked how frequently they had racist comments aimed at them in the past year, one in five Māori (20 per cent) and nearly one-quarter of (23 per cent) Middle Eastern, Latin American or African (MELAA) responded “very often”.

Nearly one-third of Māori (30 per cent), Pacific Island (28 per cent), MELAA (32 per cent) respondents said they had been made to feel “unintelligent, dishonest or dangerous” in the past year.

This compared with 15 per cent of Pākeha, 17 per cent of Asian and 13 per cent of “other European” respondents.

Spoonley said the survey consistently showed Māori were most likely to hear or be the target of offensive language and labelling.

“This is a serious concern and highlights a longstanding issue of actual or perceived racism in New Zealand.”

He suspected the high levels of racism reported by MELAA respondents was driven by Islamaphobia.

“...my expectation is that a significant reason for the very high negative experiences of MELAA is that Muslims have been targeted, prior to and unfortunately since the 15 March.”

But along with experiences of racism, one-quarter of respondents across all ethnic groups said they had felt regret about racist or discriminatory behaviour.

One New Zealand European respondent wrote: “I used to think of people of other races as ’other’. I was not rude, but I didn’t reach out. I can honestly say that it has taken until my 50s for me to really see people first, appearance second.”

Another said: “I used to be racially ignorant, made some crappy jokes about Asian people “invading” New Zealand. Was a crap move on my part and I felt horrible about it.”

Many respondents reported challenging others for racist behaviour in the past year.

Māori respondents were most likely to call out racism (80 per cent), though more than half of Asian (55 per cent) and MELAA (58 per cent) respondents said they would also speak up.

Respondents described experiences of and approaches to challenging others, often reporting frustration about the responses.

“I always respond to jokes about Maori being dole bludgers, arguments about correct pronunciations of Maori names, NZ people hating on asians, stereotypes about indians...everything, right up to MPs being racist and media printing racist articles. 90 per cent of the time the defence is “I was only joking” or “so&so is Maori and she agrees.” – a Māori/Pacific respondent.

Spoonley said these results were “extremely surprising” and suggested most respondents knew what was offensive and were prepared to take “brave” action to voice their concerns.

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon is now urging all government departments to collect data about racism and experiences of discrimination amongst staff and people they worked with. “The more data we collect, and the better we understand these issues, the more evidence we have to help us work to eliminate racism.”