Guled Mire13:03, Jun 28 2021
WARWICK SMITH/STUFF
Former president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, Hazim Arafeh, responds to news of a movie to be made about the March 15, 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks.
OPINION: Last week the Ministry of Justice took down an image used in an advertisement recruiting for policy advisors to work on the National Action Plan Against Racism. If you missed it, through no fault of their own, the photograph appeared to capture four employees who present as Pākehā. In response to criticism on social media, the ministry took down the photo.
On the surface, it could have been a simple mistake – someone reaching for a stock standard photo without considering the context of the role that was being advertised. But the response from the ministry, which was to say that it was a reminder of ‘how damaging it can be to assume ethnicity’, and who instead removed the photo because it ‘‘distracted from what is truly important’’ is mind-boggling.