Social Studies: What have I learnt this week?

Hi there! 

Today I will be sharing what I have learnt this past week in Social Studies. We have been learning about different cultures/ethnicity that have faced discrimination.  

We read passages about The Dawn Raids of the 70's, and Asian Hate. 

I learnt that in the 1950's, Pacific people were encouraged to work in N.Z. as there was a shortage of workers. Flash forward to the 70's (when the economy fell), some people, including politicians of the time started saying the Pacific people had overstayed their visas and were staying illegally. The police force started raiding houses of Pacific people, bringing dogs frothing at the mouth and flashing lights in the faces of people who lived in those houses too, all early in the morning hence the name. Luckily, a couple of days ago, on behalf of the Government, Jacinda Ardern apologised for the Dawn Raids and took part in a ifoga, a Samoan forgiveness tradition. 

We also read a piece of writing from a student from Iraq at another school in Christchurch. She wrote about how she wanted to start embracing her culture. She used to straighten her hair, ask her mum to make 'English' food and be asked to 'say something in her language' but refuse, all because she was afraid of what others would think of her. Now, she wants to wear her naturally curly hair proudly, she tells her mum to make all the Arabic dishes she can and instead of refusing to say something in her language, she will. She says she shouldn't ignore culture, because it would be like erasing half of herself. 

The last thing we learnt about this week was Asian Hate. We read a post by an actor called Simu Liu. He expressed how the Asian community has been experiencing a lot of hate crimes, stemming from COVID-19 and the association that people who are of Asian descent are to blame for COVID-19. Hate crimes toward the Asian community skyrocketed up to 1900% higher than it was last year. He also mentions the misrepresentation of Asian people, including in the media. Although it is a problem being dealt with, Asian people are still stereotyped for 'being smart' or 'good at maths', some of the most common stereotypes Asian people face. 

Thanks for reading!