Our communities need us to listen to the people who have dedicated their lives to making ours better – not those who only want to exploit our fears, writes Christine Ammunson. One in five Sāmoans died when the 1918 pandemic hit our homes. Through whispers I remember elderly aunts recalling the horror of watching the … Read more
I know the humanity of New Zealanders is far greater than the zero empathy of a cartoonist and his bosses at a newspaper I will never bother reading again. But it still hurts, writes Christine Ammunson. There’s one thing about going home to Sāmoa you can’t get away from and that’s the beautiful babies. They … Read more
In the space of days a waitress was racially abused in Auckland and a deaf student mocked by his peers in Canterbury. In both cases there were apologies. In both cases those apologies fall short, writes Christine Ammunson What a stink week. Within days and in two different cities, we had two very different young … Read more
We’ve become used to Samoan characters as peripheral bad guys. But from the tatau Sāmoa on his chest to his relationships with his aiga, Hobbs & Shaw showed us someone who is us. And he kicks arse. When I was growing up, there were hardly any Sāmoan or Polynesian faces on our television or movie … Read more
From meeting other former foster kids I know that I was one of the lucky ones. Today we have to put survivors front and centre of the inquiry into abuse in state care, writes Christine L Ammunson I suspect that only people who have been in state care or foster care know what it’s like … Read more
As America marks one of their greatest orators on Martin Luther King Day, Christine Ammunson looks back on her trip to Georgetown University for the World Speechwriters Conference in October. As I hopped into an Uber, I reflected on an extraordinary week at the World Speechwriters Conference hearing from writers and strategists who’d served US presidents … Read more
Christine Ammunson is a Samoan New Zealander who was brought up on The Black and White Minstrel Show, Golliwogs and Little Black Sambo books. You’re allowed to let the past go without disrespecting those you love, she writes. As a kid in the 1970s I used to watch the BBC variety hour The Black and White Minstrel … Read more