Are New Zealand Employers Racist?

Yik Kun Heng won't be called John

Watch this video about a very personable New Zealand man of Malaysian descent, Yik Kun Heng, who is unable to find a job because of his Chinese sounding name.

Racism is the “ugly face of racism in New Zealand today” and kiwis still have a lot to learn about personal race relations”

All of his classmates with European sounding names have secured good jobs, but 170 job applications and three University degrees later, he’s been advised by his careers officer to change his name to something English sounding like “John” if he wants to do the same.

Yik has refused to do this, having a strong sense of personal identity and integrity.

The only work he’s been able to find is basic admin support for a Telco – far removed from his post graduate qualifications in political science. He is so ‘fed up’ that he has decided to go back to Asia after calling New Zealand home for the last 22 years, another talented and skilled migrant who may’ve contributed so much will be lost to New Zealand. No wonder the country is being left behind.

When asked what he will tell people from abroad about New Zealand, he says:

“New Zealand is an amazing country, BUT in terms of the employment side they have to be really prepared to make the tough decisions on how much they’re willing to give up or how much they’re willing to sell because of the racism“

Emigrating to New Zealand from an Asian country, or planning to study there with a view to applying for residency when you graduate? This video is for you.

Video Link - Are New Zealand Employers Racist?

Prof. Paul Spoonley, mentionedin our other blog below, also appears in the studio discussion in the video. He is “Regional Director (Auckland) and Research Director for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University.

He is project leader for the FRST-funded Integration of Immigrants Programme. He is past Chair of the Management Group for the Building Research Capability in the Social Sciences (BRCSS) Network. He is the author or editor of 25 books on topics such as ethnic relations and identity, political extremism and employment.” source

Human Rights Commission

The Human Rights Commission receives, on average, 472 complaints about racial discrimination, incitement and harassment each year.

Race complaints regarding employment are the most frequent and Asians are the most common target.

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said if you marginalise a community you are only hurting yourself.

“If people are employed below their level of qualifications then that is a loss to the economy. If they’re not employed at all, that is a loss to the economy.” source

You may also be interested in our other blog:

Migrants Changing Names To Get Jobs (April 2010)

Lincoln Tan has written another excellent article about the problems that migrants are having finding work in New Zealand during the present tough economic climate.

According to Mr Tan an academic says that businesses often eliminate Asian sounding applicants at a very early stage in the interview selection process.

Surely that is racial discrimination?:

“Desperate job-seeking Asians are not only taking on Anglicised first names but also officially ditching their traditional surnames for European-sounding ones in the hope that will help them find work in New Zealand.

One Chinese woman even changed her name to Brenda Jones in an attempt to get a job interview in the tough economic climate.

About 21,000, or 9.2 per cent, of the Asian population are without jobs, and experts say their foreign-sounding names have contributed to their unemployment woes.

Massey University researcher Paul Spoonley says New Zealand employers, especially in small and medium-sized businesses, tend to eliminate Asian applicants very early in the process through surname discrimination…”

…Woman had been advised by Work and Income to change her last name to make herself more employable:

“[A migrant] who changed her surname from Teoh to May with an English first name, said a job interviewer at Work and Income advised her to do so.

She told me that with an Asian surname, employers will automatically think that I cannot speak English,” said Miss May, a former retail manager.

A University of Auckland School of Business survey in 2005 found anti-Asian discrimination to be significant among employers.

It found that even without immigration status consideration, having a Chinese or Indian name significantly raised chances of being considered unsuitable…”

But migrants have to pass English Language tests before being granted work visas so where does this ‘perception’ come from that they can’t speak English, or is there another reason for weeding out people… ?

read on

Also see

Singaporenewsalternative.blogspot.com: Asians-ditch-identities-in-hunt-for

International Student Attacked At Nelson College – Updated

As the day progressed further details have been released about the alleged vicious attack that was perpetrated on an 16 year old international student at a South Island college on Thursday last week.

“The arrest of two students at Nelson College in connection with a serious assault and mugging on another student at the school has “stunned” the school’s principal.

“We are devastated. I’ve got people in tears, staff members. We are really, really shocked by the whole thing,” Nelson College headmaster Gary O’Shea said.

“It’s going to be very difficult. The school is going to find this very difficult. It’s very unsettling when it’s within your own community.”

The students, who were of the same nationality, were arrested yesterday…” more in the Nelson Mail

Two teenage boys have already appeared in court and were refused bail. A third student was questioned by police but not charged.

According to an earlier report

“The pupil was allegedly attacked by three people he boarded with in the school’s hostel, police said yesterday. They described the attack as prolonged, with the victim being punched and kicked.” source

The nationality of the injured student and his attackers  has not been released.

Update 12 June 2011:

Two Nelson teenagers have admitted viciously beating a 16-year-old schoolmate in an hour-long ordeal before ordering him to strip to his underpants and lie in a crucifixion position while they mocked and took photographs of him… more here

They are due back in court on 22 June.

Racist Attack

In March 2008 three Korean students from Nelson College were subjected to an alleged racist attacked in the town of Nelson

Publicity over boarders caught growing cannabis and a racist attack on three Korean students earlier this year are partly behind a fall in Nelson College’s international student enrolments, its headmaster says.

Gary O’Shea said he “optimistically” expected there would be about 40 international students at the college next year, down from 50 this year.

Each international student paid $12,000 in tuition fees and a further $8700 if they boarded at the school, he said.

Last month, 11 boarders were discovered growing cannabis on college land in hills behind the school. As a result, five were forced to leave the school.

In March, three international students from South Korea were attacked by two men outside a Waimea Rd dairy in a racially motivated assault.

College board of trustees chairman Hugh Riley said at the school’s senior prizegiving that publicity around the cannabis incident was going to have a “financial cost”, with a drop in the number of international students and boarders predicted.

Mr O’Shea said: “Clearly, the racism publicity around the assault hasn’t helped either, but we just have to deal with it.”

Racism towards people from Asian backgrounds was a national issue, he said..” source Nelson Mail

You may also be interested in:  other blogs about Nelson

Indian Shoppers Attacked In Auckland Shopping Mall

More details are emerging of an attack on a middle aged Indian gentleman and a female in St Luke’s shopping mall early last month.

The assailants are alleged to be two female pupils from Mount Albert Grammar School, aged 13 and 14. Surveillance cameras caught the two thugs beating up the man and kicking him in the head on a concrete stairway. His distraught young daughter could only look on and fear for the life of her father.

The girls had been involved in violent incidents before and, even though the assaults took place off school property, they have been expelled from Mount Albert Grammar.

At last! It is pleasing to see a school taking firm action on thuggish behaviour and expelling the perpetrators. If one school can do it, why can’t others do the same? (also see South African teen bullied at Mount Roskill Grammar)

Yahoo.nz News reported

The school’s board of trustees chairman, Greg Moyle, confirmed today that the 13 and 14-year-old students had been barred from attending the school. However, because of their age, the school legally has to find places for them at another school. The younger of the two had been at the school for only five weeks.

Mr Moyle said the girls were in school uniform when they attacked a man at the St Lukes Shopping Mall, kicking him in the head as his daughter looked on…more here

Yahoo readers responded to the report, one said

“There is more to this than bullying – the poor shooper (victim) was also targeted based upon his Indian race… guess if media (TV personalities like Paul Henry) can get away with racism and abuse a nation on government run TV, and then get a job again after 5 months to again start their racial rant on another channel!!… then my questioin is who are you media people to report such abuse …. Doh!!! Bullying starts from the media (verbal) and then percolates down to the school kids to become…

Principal Dale Burden carried out his own investigation and said the attack was not racially motivated. It is not known whether the police agree with his conclusion, nor are the public likely to be told if they do:  NZ police do not collect data on racially motivated crimes, despite recommendations in the United Nations  Periodic Review of New Zealand and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

“.. Dale Burden says the attacks were random and not race-related. “Nothing from my investigation suggests that at all. I don’t think race had anything to do with it at all quite frankly,” Burden told Close Up.

In one of the assaults, the girls beat a man as his young daughter looked on. The second attack was on a female shopper…” more here

This wasn’t the only time these two girls had been involved in fights in St Lukes Mall

A person who saw the fight told the Herald on Sunday: “They just started jumping on each other. One of the girls ripped another girl’s shirt, so she was fighting in her bra. They ripped out chunks of hair.”

After the incidents, Westfield imposed a temporary ban on Mt Albert Grammar students in uniform visiting St Lukes mall…” more here

Level Of Criminal Assaults By Children In NZ “No Surprise”

Violence among school aged children is exploding in New Zealand and unfortunately it sometimes invovles the children of immigrants.

Lost among the hype of New Zealand’s recently released 2010 crime figures were some shocking data about child violence. The stats make for grim reading as they come at a time when schoolyard bullying and violent  assaults are frequently in the New Zealand news.

Police crime statistics showed the number of children under 9 apprehended for assaults in 2010 was 64, almost double the 33 recorded in 2009.

Assaults in the 10-13 age group also rose, with 827 apprehensions in 2010, compared to 770 in 2009. The majority of offenders were boys. Read Crime shock: NZ’s little thugs on the NZ Herald’s site.

Some other posts about racism in New Zealand

India’s High Commission Disgusted At Racist Attack In Hastings, NZ

Racist Street Attack In Christchurch

Discrimination Against Asians Still A Key Issue In New Zealand – Updated

Booted Out Of Bag End

What’s all this then, we’ll have no trouble here. The casting agent involved in yesterday’s Hobbit ‘skingate’ scandal has been terminated from the job, according to a report in Stuff:

…The agent, an independent contractor, had also placed a newspaper ad saying female hobbit extras should have “light skin tones”.

A spokesman for Jackson’s Wingnut Films told AFP the contractor had now been dismissed.

“No such instructions were given, the crew member in question took it upon themselves to do that and it’s not something we instructed or condoned,” AFP reported.

In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien described three races of Hobbits inhabiting the Middle Earth fantasy world which is the setting for the movies, including harfoots, who “were browner of skin” than the others.

However, Wingnut said anyone who met the height and age criteria was free to audition, regardless of skin colour.

“The crew member in question has been dismissed from the show,” he said. “It’s something we take very seriously.”…read the full report here

Hopefully Naz Humphreys will now be able to re-audition and realise her dream of getting a part in the films.

But yesterday we asked how many dark skinned extras had been chosen to play Hobbits in the ‘Rings trilogy?

If the answer is zero then doesn’t that suggest that there’s long term and institutionalised racism in New Zealand?

If so, Wingnut’s ‘sacking’ of the contracted agent looks like little more than a knee jerk reaction, due to the embarrassment caused and the risk of other countries boycotting the films.

We’re looking forward to seeing Hobbits of all races in the forthcoming films.

New Zealand’s Human Right Act 1993 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of

c) Religious belief:
(d) Ethical belief, which means the lack of a religious belief, whether in respect of a particular religion or religions or all religions:
(e) Colour:
(f) Race:
(g) Ethnic or national origins, which includes nationality or citizenship:

Wronged parties can lodge a complaint with the tribunal for an award of damages to be made against the offender.

for background to this issue read:

Racial Discrimination Allegation Hits Hobbit Movie Casting Call

and posts tagged Racism in New Zealand which include:

• Migrant Tales – “If you doubt discrimination in NZ read this…”
• ‘Non White’ Kiwi Treated Like Immigrant In Own Country
• Upset Hindus Want Paul Henry Charged With Racism And Terminated
• India Summons NZ To Protest Against TV Presenter’s Racial Slur
• Racist Street Attack In Christchurch
• India’s High Commission Disgusted At Racist Attack In Hastings, NZ

Racial Discrimination Allegation Hits Hobbit Movie Casting Call

The Age is this morning is reporting on a race row that has broken out in New Zealand over a casting call for hobbits, of all things.

British woman, Naz Humhpreys, a social policy researcher on a working holiday in NZ and who is of Pakistani descent, attended a Hobbit casting call for the forthcoming middle earth films, only to be told her skin tone wasn’t suitable – apparently Hobbits are fair skinned, who knew?

“It’s 2010 and I still can’t believe I’m being discriminated against because I have brown skin,” Humphreys told the newspaper.

“The casting manager basically said they weren’t having anybody who wasn’t pale-skinned.”

The newspaper (Ed. Dominion Post) said video footage showed the casting manager telling people at the audition: “We are looking for light-skinned people. I’m not trying to be — whatever. It’s just the brief. You’ve got to look like a hobbit.”…

…”I would love to be an extra,” she said. “But it just seemed like a shame because obviously hobbits are not brown or black or any other colour.

“They all look kind of homogenised beige and all derived from the Caucasian gene pool.” read more at The Age

Naz is said to have started a Facebook group called “Hire hobbits of all colours! Say no to hobbit racism!”

An example of institutionalised racism in New Zealand, or just a misconception on the part of one casting manager? To be sure you’d have to work your way back through hours of Lord of the Rings films and look for any Hobbits that have dark skins, if there aren’t any that suggests it may be the former.

Read an update to this story:-  Booted Out Of Bag End

and posts tagged Racism in New Zealand which include:

• Migrant Tales – “If you doubt discrimination in NZ read this…”
• ‘Non White’ Kiwi Treated Like Immigrant In Own Country
• Upset Hindus Want Paul Henry Charged With Racism And Terminated
• India Summons NZ To Protest Against TV Presenter’s Racial Slur
• Racist Street Attack In Christchurch
• India’s High Commission Disgusted At Racist Attack In Hastings, NZ