They’re putting up with a lot believing that it’s short-term…They’ll often have survival jobs, that they’re doing in the meantime while they look for decent employment and often making good connections through that job. (Provider) We are not here to steal someone’s job or someone’s money. We are here competing with our education, our knowledge. And if we are lacking those things, we work hard, we fight to get them, even if it’s labour work, cleaning toilets, even if it’s everything. (Muslim focus group) Overcompensating to prove worth: Some Asian and Indian focus groups commonly noted and valued developing an identity as hard workers and efficient employees. Others noted that many migrants felt a constant need to prove their worth by working twice as hard. I think it's an Indian or Chinese or Vietnamese thing. It's an ethnic people's hardworking mindset, that you don't feel dictated by the clock, it's more about our dedication to our work. You're brought up by that ethnic group mindset of hard work, finish your work. It's inbred in us. (Indian focus group) Indian and Asian people are more hardworking, and our Kiwi lifestyle is they don't want to work in the weekends, Saturday and Sunday…They don't want to work hard…as soon as it's 5pm, it's time to go home…But if you look at Indian, Asian or any other immigrants for example, they'll go that extra mile. (Indian focus group) 6.1.3. Actively standing up to racism and challenging stereotypes Challenging people on their racist behaviour: Pākehā and tauiwi participants highlighted calling out racist acts when or before they occur. A guy at work, we were talking about racism and he was blatantly a white exceptionalist, “[I’m] not racist I grew up in Auckland with[in] a multi-cultural society”. Then he was going on about a Māori brother or sister, mixed parents and I was talking about equality and he said how is it equality that my sister can get a grant for the education and I can’t. I talked about equity and the history about why she is getting the grant because she’s had less opportunity, everything taken away from her and her country taken over and basically had her culture removed from the grandparents. People don’t think about that, they just think about ‘me’ I don’t want to pay higher taxes and what do I get out of it. (Pākehā 2 focus group) For tauiwi migrant groups this assumed a level of confidence that not all possessed and for some resulted in feelings of discomfort. I got asked, why do you Chinese eat dog? …They've got it from social media that Chinese eat dogs. Whenever I was asked this question I say come on, not every Chinese eats dog. I'm Chinese, I don't eat dog, be careful with your questions. So, I challenge them. (Chinese focus group) I was told to go back to where I came from and I said to the white man - well where do you come from because you're white. He didn’t give me an answer, but he walked away, and I walked away. (Cook Islands focus group) www.malatest-intl.com Drivers of racism – March 2021 66