23 Human Rights Commission Kupu Arataki | Introduction Maranga Mai! begins with some necessary context to understand this report. There is an urgent need for New Zealanders to accept the truth about the magnitude of racism experienced by Māori today and acknowledge that this history of racism stretches back to colonisation. The authors believe the elimination of racism will not occur, without constitutional transformation and co-governance with Māori, and the rejection of the Doctrine of Discovery. This section starts with an overview of the Doctrine of Discovery which is the authority by which Aotearoa New Zealand was first colonised and which still underpins the establishment of the New Zealand government and its legislation today. He Whakaputanga o Nu Tireni | The Declaration of Independence (He Whakaputanga) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti) are then introduced. The following sections describe the status of Te Tiriti (te reo version) under international law and why it is regarded as the principal text by Māori. Maranga Mai! calls on the government to recognise He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti as the founding constitutional documents of Aotearoa and to reject the Doctrine of Discovery as the basis for its position (see also chapter 1). For this to occur, the government is urged to enter a process of truth, reconciliation and justice with Māori and use this as a springboard to take bold actions to eliminate racism, commit to constitutional transformation, and enable a better future for tangata whenua and all New Zealanders. Doctrine of Discovery Indigenous nations at the United Nations have described the Doctrine of Discovery as the driver of all “Indigenous dispossession” (United Nations PFII, 2012). The Doctrine of Discovery refers to a series of Papal Bulls (Catholic laws) made by the Vatican during the fifteenth century. These decrees provided the rationale for the conquest, colonisation and subjugation of Indigenous peoples and the seizure of their lands. These racist actions were premised on the basis that non-European, non-white and non-Christian peoples had forfeited their rights of independent sovereignty, ownership of land and natural resources to what was presumed to be a superior European power. The doctrine became part of international law through a series of landmark cases, such as, Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) (21 US 543) in the United States, where judges ruled that Western states that had taken possession of Indigenous lands immediately acquired a radical title to the land and could extinguish Indigenous ownership at will (Stuart Banner, 2005). The Doctrine of Discovery has never been rescinded. In Aotearoa, Lieutenant William Hobson under the doctrine, declared sovereignty over Te Waipounamu (The South Island) in 1840 and claimed it for the Crown. In 1840, The Treaty of Waitangi (English version) was partially signed and mainly by North Island rangatira. Nevertheless, the British Crown proclaimed sovereignty and cession under the doctrine and the treaty (Ruru J. & Miller R.J, 2008). The doctrine paved the way for colonisation of Aotearoa, underpinned the establishment of the New Zealand government and its legislation, and established the white supremacy and systemic racism which exists today. Through colonisation, premised on the notions of racial superiority outlined in the doctrine, tangata whenua were displaced from their traditional lands, territories and resources. He Whakaputanga o Te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni | The Declaration of Independence (1835) Drafted in 1835, 52 rangatira signed He Whakaputanga which formally asserted the mana and authority of Indigenous Māori peoples in