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community weblog

The loneliness of being Black in New Zealand

Diana Simumpande is Zambian-born, raised between England and New Zealand. By day, she's a copywriter who has spent over a decade working with some of New Zealand's biggest brands. When she's not doing that, she makes video essays on her YouTube channel, Afrodizjha, picking apart pop culture to get at something true about race, feminism, and the world we're all pretending is fine.
posted by Start with Dessert on Jun 07, 2026 at 6:43 AM

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Myself being a white Australian, my opinion doesn't count for much in this context. However I wonder if she would find a connection with Maoris, who in my experience, when I was over there, were solid and entertaining folk.

This is only tangentially relevant, but there was one time in my early 20s when I was in Taupo (north island) with some other friends from Brisbane. At the time, I had my hair dyed blue. In the evening we went into a bar and realised quickly: this is not the right place for us, it's a Maori bar. And then one of the guys at the bar said loudly and confrontationally "you've got blue fucken hair! what colour is your pubic hair then?" and I replied "it's blue as well, I'll show you" and started unbuckling my belt, and they all fell about laughing. After which, we were OK there, and stayed for some beer and chat.

That's just an anecdote about Maoris being funny people who value directness and honesty, and it sounds like Diana ought to find some friends among them. But I'm a long way away from there and I don't know enough about her life, so I might be off the mark with that.
posted by illongruci at 8:29 AM

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illongruci - yes there's a long history of colonial violence experienced by Black people across the world and Maori in Aotearoa and yes, some Maori culture takes inspiration from African-American culture and yes, Maori political activism clearly draws upon the African-American movements of the late Twentieth Century, so maybe there's grounds for that connection but mate.. come on.

Just because someone's skin colour is slightly darker than white, it's still a mistake to lump them in with every other person who's not white. To do so is to reinforce the idea that white is the default and anyone not white is therefore different.

And that's the problem here.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:37 PM

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And the concerns that arise from being indigenous are completely different and sometimes opposed to the ones that come from being an immigrant. This is well meant but a kind of racism all of its own when you think for a little bit.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:46 PM

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Thank you for this article, I appreciate the window into the author's experience. The part about the commodified American version of Blackness was especially interesting to me. I'm familiar with the commodification of Black culture and with the ways American culture is packaged and forced upon the rest of the world, but I hadn't connected the two before this.
posted by brook horse at 3:38 PM

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Call me naif, but I understood illongruci's comment as being more about Māori culture than skin tone.

But what do I know, I'm across the Pacific in the opposite hemisphere. That said, though indigenous concerns are different (note: the last Māori I spoke with told me they know they came from elsewhere), I have a hard time imagining any of my indigenous relatives rolling their eyes, groaning and cussing in response to somebody speaking about how racism affected them personally, their family and community.
posted by house-goblin at 6:42 PM

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I think that theorizing about how a Black woman would be received by an indigenous community that you are not a part of is probably not the best use of this thread.
posted by brook horse at 8:33 PM

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Many thanks for the article! Much food for thought; I shall need time to digest.
posted by kyraU2 at 10:05 PM

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I think that theorizing about how a Black woman would be received by an indigenous community that you are not a part of is probably not the best use of this thread.

Yes, but I am still curious how much of New Zealand's particular "texture" of racism applies to Māori people, or any other minorities living in the land. Some of the incidents she describes I can see coming from non-whites, while others seem much less likely.

Anyways, after dashing that comment off while making dinner, that curiosity later led to some internetting and I learned the author is involved with New Zealand's BIPOC community. It looks like she is part of, or at least aware of, Black Creatives Aotearoa, which exists to help "New Zealanders of African, Caribbean, Māori and Pasifika descent to connect, create and collaborate."

Given the preceding, I hope she one day writes more directly about her experiences with other minorities in Aotearoa. I found the "loneliness" article engaging but mostly retreading fairly familiar ground. Probably because I've worked with a lot of Africans, been around aggressive as well as unknowing racists, and read Society of the Spectacle. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't need a well written reminder that shit is still going on.

I'm still hung up on the complainer at the JID show, though. Any similar show I've been to that sort of behaviour would likely bring a STFU, a confrontation, or a fight. For myself, the lack of reaction does not reflect well on the crowd.
posted by house-goblin at 3:12 AM

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Given that she is actually from/raised in New Zealand, I'm sure she's familiar with the Māori and doesn't need to be told they exist.
posted by LizBoBiz at 2:59 PM

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