Community Engagement Report for developing a National Action Plan Against Racism Decolonisation and anti-racism education for all Tangata Whenua participants believe there is a lack of awareness around decolonisation and racism across all formal education settings, government institutions and systems. They said that racism is a learned behaviour, and all people in Aotearoa should be educated on the topic. One participant said “the first thing that I always think of is that you’re not born racist. You’re taught it.” Another said: We have a whole generation who don’t even understand that half the things they say are racist and offensive. I think what needs to happen is that everyone is properly educated. Not just students at school, but our politicians, people high up and all over New Zealand. While education has an important role to play in addressing racial equity and social injustices, teachers need to be both knowledgeable and competent on the subject. With education “comes [the question around] who’s teaching it, and how they’re teaching it and whether it’s being taught correctly. It can be unsafe when it’s not taught correctly”. Decolonisation education should benefit both Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti. A participant urged that Aotearoa: Teach histories of colonialism with acknowledgment of trauma and poverty, to end stigma of Māori. Cultural studies at school with reflection on inequality (Civil Rights movement (US)), minority cultures, and Indigenous peoples. Consultation with iwi and immigrant minorities could inform this. Education should focus on the history of racism more generally: many Tangata Whenua participants recognised that the colonial history of racism in Aotearoa continues to have an enduring negative New Zealand Human Rights Commission legacy on Tangata Whenua and other ethnic minorities. They felt that the Government needed to learn from history – in the words of one participant: “I guess the easiest way to answer a vision for a racism-free Aotearoa is to look at our history.” In Aotearoa there is a history of people drawing on markers of visible difference in skin, eye, hair colour, features or stature to talk about non-white people in a derogatory and offensive way. This casual racism, which occurs in everyday conversation, is aimed at Tangata Whenua, or any person of colour or group perceived as racially ‘other’. The multi-cultural make up of Aotearoa was often recognised along with the special status of Māori as first and sovereign peoples. One participant said what was needed was: “everyday easy acknowledgement by all kiwis that we are all immigrants and Māori were first”. There was a general call for more robust and frank discussion about racism with one participant asking for: A New Zealand that chooses not to hide behind excuses of ignorance or jest. Multigenerational initiatives and education of our past and our biases which create the space for an informed kōrero about our future where there is no safe harbour for ignorance to thrive. One vision for a racist-free Aotearoa is where Pākehā have worked to gain greater understanding of colonisation and its impacts to enable greater Tiriti relationships with Tangata Whenua: We will have got to a place where Pākehā understand the way their (our) worldview has dominated since colonisation, and have collectively done the work to let go of the aspects of that worldview that are detrimental to all people. Then all Tangata Tiriti will be 43