Experiences of interpersonal racism
Pacific workers shared stories of interpersonal racism
and discrimination in the workforce that contributed
to their experiences of the pay gap. Their stories
included both explicit and suspected experiences
of racism. A small number of Pacific workers also
reported that they experienced discrimination from
Pacific managers and business owners.
Pacific workers spoke about the overt interpersonal
racism they experienced, including racial slurs and
harassment. More-experienced Pacific workers who
observed or experienced racism were particularly
concerned about its disabling impact on the younger
generation. One Pacific healthcare worker told us:
I can now see racist behaviour in work, racism
against young PIs – how they’re treated in the
workplace, shuts them down, keeps them from
being confident in progression. (T016)
A Pacific construction worker agreed, observing that
there is “racism against young Pacific Islanders, shuts
them down” (T017). These observations are supported
by the Commission’s previous research into young
people’s experiences.
Some Pacific workers noted the difference in the
experience of racism between New Zealand-born
Pacific workers and workers who had come from the
Pacific Islands. Not all of those in the latter group
recognised the poor treatment they experienced as
racism at the time. One construction worker from
Tonga told us:
Growing up in Tonga, racism wasn’t a thing,
discrimination wasn’t a thing. When [I] got here, I
wasn’t aware I was being subjected to racism or
discrimination. Looking back, [I] understand I did
face a lot of discrimination growing up, but at the
time, just powered through it to make a better
future.
They offered the reason, specific to Tongans, that
“Tongans coming from Tonga don’t realise what is
happening sometimes because there are no colonial
“other” in Tonga and our experience with colonisation
in the Pacific is different” (T017). By contrast, they saw
the immediate impact on their New Zealand-born
workmates:
[I] was called racial slurs, put up with it. [It was] the
NZ-born Pacific Islanders that got really offended. I
can see it affected them. (T017)
Some of the racism Pacific workers experienced was
more subtle, involving indirect or even unintentional
comments or incidents – ones that often make
assumptions or perpetuate stereotypes. One student
described their experience of these microaggressions:
People often ask where do you come from or
where are you from? I’m from Nelson. Someone
asked if I was on a work visa. Just to answer your
question, no I’m a proud New Zealander. I’m
studying at Otago Uni, thank you. (T018)
Some of those who identified with another ethnicity as
well as Pacific shared the tensions they experienced
in the workplace, describing both discrimination by
employers and the feeling of not being quite Pacific
enough. One healthcare worker told us:
I have been told at an interview before that I am
not what they expected (physically) after reading
my CV as I have a lot of Pacific-focused volunteer
work on my CV but was not considered “Pacific
looking” as my father is Dutch … On top of that, as
a Pacific Islander who is also mixed race, often I do
not feel that I have the authority to speak on these
issues – cultural identity/lack of cultural confidence.
(S077)
Experience of interpersonal racism has health and
social impacts for the people on the receiving end.
One researcher explained the physiological damages
of racism to us:
Stress and cortisol are elevated and people’s sense
of fight or flight is permanently turned on. Over a
lifetime, you just carry this piled-on discrimination
and its effects. (R001)
Low expectations generated by stereotypes
Participants felt low expectations drove employers’
decisions. Several people spoke about the way they
felt stereotypes of them as Pacific peoples were
working against them both in finding work and once in
the workplace. One construction worker told us about
his experience of meeting potential clients in person:
Voices of Pacific peoples
71