Respect is key says young Samoan race unity speech finalist

A Samoan teenager finalist in this year's Race Unity Speech Awards says respect is key to race unity.

16-year-old Otago Girls' High School student, Tanya Moeono (Tiapapata, Falefa, Tanugamanono), will head to Auckland this month to represent her hometown after winning the Otago and Southland regional finals.

"All cultures have their own form of respect," Moeono says, "to me, it doesn't matter how we perceive respect as long as we show it."

"[Treating] others how you would like to be treated, I think that's the main thing to achieve race unity."

The Speech Awards is a platform for senior high school students to share their thoughts on how race relations can be improved in Aotearoa.

"When I say my speech I feel like I'm being heard," Moeono says.

"It's a way for me to release my frustrations as well as the frustrations of my people and other minority groups who are not being heard."

Moeono says her research for her speech included hearing stories from family, friends, teachers and elders.

She says she felt frustrated after hearing that her mum had faced racial profiling at supermarkets, shops and while working. Some would even act as if they could not understand her mother despite her being fluent in English.

She says that her elders expressed similar struggles where they felt looked down upon by their teachers, to the point that their only spaces of comfort was among other Pacific people.

"It made me feel like Pasifika people or Samoan people were being labelled as unintelligent," she says.

A middle child in a family of six, including two sisters and a younger brother, Moeono originally grew up in Auckland. When she was seven, she and her aiga moved to Samoa.

Seven years later the family returned, settling in Dunedin this time.

Living between both countries Moeono had developed a nuanced view of how racism operates.

"In Samoa, there were a lot of conflicts but none of them have to do with race because Samoa's mostly full of Samoan people," she says.

"But coming to New Zealand I felt the difference. I felt like I was being looked down upon by other people because I was Samoan.

"And I felt like I did something wrong because I am Samoan."

​​Then Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio at the one-year anniversary of the Dawn Raids apology. Photo/PMN News/Candice Ama ​

​For her speech, the young orator chose four events that resonated with her: the Christchurch mosque shooting, the Dawn Raids, Samoa's march for independence and a recent incident where a Māori elder faced abuse at an anti-co-governance meeting.​

She says despite her love for public speaking she still experiences nervousness like anyone else.

"Whenever I got stuck for words or felt my fears kicking in, I looked into the crowd and I could see my parents, teacher and peers," Moeono says.

"Whenever I saw their smiles it cleared my mind, helped the words flow from my mouth and gave me confidence so that even if I didn't win, at least I had support.

"I just wanted to make them happy."

With the finals only two weeks away Moeono is excited to meet new people. The experience so far has already been eye-opening for her future.

"The most memorable comment I got was one from my peer. She asked me if I wanted to be a politician.

"I was planning to become a doctor but when she said that it got me thinking. Maybe I should become a politician so I can be the voice of my people.

"I want to fight to be heard so I think using my voice to speak up for others who are not being heard is what I'd like to do."