6. Participants’ emotional armour – coping and support 6.1. Coping with racism Some participants chose not to give racism their attention or energy or considered turning a blind eye to avoid confrontation and exclusion. In contrast, others viewed silence and ignorance as condoning racist behaviour. I don't care. It's their [racist person’s] problem. (Former refugee focus group) If you sit there and don’t act - then your silence is pretty much part of the act. If you don’t say anything then you're condoning it silently… (Tuvaluan focus group) The three most common forms of coping with racism, as identified by participants, included living with racism, minimising the impact of racism, and actively standing up to racism and challenging stereotypes. 6.1.1. Minimising the impact of racism Humour: Māori and Pacific focus groups commonly noted the use of humour and laughter as a coping strategy to mask and cope with experiences of racism. However, many also described humour as a consequence of not being able to cope and a way to normalise and reinforce racist behaviour. Māori focus groups noted that humour may also reflect a lack of understanding and connection with culture and identity. Racism is always going to exist - laughing about it, that’s the positive way for me in how I deal with it. (Tuvaluan focus group) Thinking about the memes. Obviously when we noa the tapu with kai in a wharekai and seeing memes being like cuzzies only show up for the kai, it also shows how disconnected some of our people are from our kainga our whenua because they think that is a joke or funny because they don’t know that you eat to noa the tapu. (Te Ika- a-Māui Māori focus group) Racist humour and satire displayed by Māori and Pacific peoples about their own were also considered a means of fuelling racist stereotypes and actions from other non-Māori and non-Pacific groups. (A group of males of mixed ethnicities) were being really rude to each other but joking because of the cultural differences. I was thinking how normalised it has become. How normal some comments that could be offense becomes a joke and where is the boundary, what’s okay to say and what’s not. (Latin American focus group). I’ve always felt [uncomfortable] with Bro-town, I can’t believe they showed that on TV especially because for the most part its white people laughing at those characters. (Te Ikaa-Māui Māori focus group) www.malatest-intl.com Drivers of racism – March 2021 64