The killing of George Floyd has created a global movement of people railing against police brutality, embedded racism and the myth that democracy protects everyone's human rights.
This struggle of the powerless against the powerful is universal and familiar to Māori, indigenous Australians and native Americans too.
We can tautoko Black Lives Matter and focus on structural change here because they are the same struggle.
We can express aroha and kotahitanga while asserting our rangatiratanga, and we can do so while addressing other kaupapa here. We've been multi-tasking for generations.
We can support Black Lives Matter and join the dots to systemic and institutional racism here in Aotearoa. Māori leaders within the anti-apartheid movement did exactly that in 1981. This is not an either/or moment.
We are all interconnected. Tangata whenua and tangata tiriti. We need to channel our common sense of justice and collective rage, understand the fundamental causes, then commit to real action - if we truly believe in transformation.