76 Maranga Mai! I am good at maths, but my teacher just thinks I am stupid so never gave me any time except to get me in trouble. But if you are Pākehā it’s all good (Office of the Children’s Commissioner and New Zealand School Trustees Association, 2018, pp. 19–20). It is just pretty much like you must belong to a specific culture to receive fair treatment. If you are a Māori or Islander, then you are pretty much just treated like shit ( The Southern Initiative et al, 2020b, p. 39). Testimony from non-Māori students support these observations: Like before the teacher knew how intelligent my Māori friends were, they considered them dumb Māori. But as soon as they showed that they were bright, it was like, oh, you’re not really Māori cause your mother is Pākehā. So it’s like as long as you showed the stereotype of what a Māori was, it was like you’re a Māori, and if you weren’t, it was like, ‘Oh, well you’re not really Māori’ (Prasad, 2000, p. 95). The way teachers treat Māori reveals how many have lower expectations for them: Tama felt he was treated ‘dumber’ than Pākehā children, and commented feeling that, ‘Māori were only expected to achieve so much, and never anything more on top of it’ (Prasad, 2000, p. 95). Evidence from students also speaks to direct interpersonal racism from teachers: Being Māori. Some teachers are racist. They say bad things about us (Berryman and Eley, 2018, p. 108). Teachers shame us. They say we’re thick, we smell. Our uniforms are paru (dirty). They shame us in class. Put us down. Don’t even try to say our names properly. Say things about our whānau (Berryman and Eley, 2018, p. 108). More recently, Chevron described a teacher at their school known for being openly racist, who ‘made a late list specifically for Māori students and called students racist slurs like cannibal, savages, coconuts, pirates or terrorists’ (Muru-Lanning, 2020). “Our principal said straight-up I don’t like brown people” (Ngati Frybread in Muru-Lanning, 2020). The evidence of Jamie demonstrates that racist teachers often seek to disguise their comments: You get teachers every now and then, you know, passing remarks about Māori students, but they say it in a way that you’d think they were joking like ‘Oh, you’re just a no-hoper’, or ‘Oh, you’re just going to end up at the freezing works or something’. And so, you know, all the other kids would laugh. Only one person ever mentioned the word ‘Māori.’ Other than that, comments, you know, were directed at a Māori student, but they never said ‘Māori’ so it wasn’t obvious (Prasad, 2000, p. 95). Tauira Māori push back There are examples of students pushing back: The teacher was telling the class about the story of the Māori, and somewhat eloquently the teacher was explaining the barbaric habits of an old Māori chief. The teacher informed the class he was a murderer and cannibal. Breaking the spell, a small child rose indignantly to protest ‘He did nothing of the sort, I know, cause he was my great-grandfather’ (The Press, 1933). Internalised racism Racist shaming of tauira Māori in education causes shame, embarrassment and poor outcomes for Māori. Each event constitutes a micro-aggression often resulting in internalised racism whereby Māori students internalise feelings of alienation, failure and inferiority. As one student described it: It’s not good to be Māori. “I didn’t learn anything positive at school about my own culture” (Muru-Lanning, 2020). And another: They made me feel like I was different, and they were better. On the first day at intermediate, a teacher said I looked bad so I decided I would live up to that (The Southern Initiative, Ministry of Education & The Auckland Co-Design Lab, 2020a, p. 24).