Twelve percent of youth said they were perceived as being Pākehā or white, despite being Māori or members of ethnic minority groups. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Racism towards indigenous people or those from ethnic minorities is experienced at higher rates by people of colour than those who are perceived as white, new research shows.
The study, published today in The Lancet, provides data and context that backs up the lived experience of 20,000 people.
Auckland University associate professor Roshini Pereis-John said the research found less affluent minorities had the worst outcomes.
"Ethnic minorities who have come from low and middle lower-income countries, like from South Asia, they were migrants who are in New Zealand for less than five years. First-generation or second-generation migrants, especially those young people from Pasifika ethnic groups, were the worst affected."
Twelve percent of youth said they were perceived as being Pākehā or white, despite being Māori or members of ethnic minority groups.
They also reported less discrimination than those who were not perceived as white.
Auckland University associate professor Rachel Simon-Kumar told Midday Report colourism was disturbingly present.
Young people who were not perceived to be white were likely to experience more discrimination from teachers, peers and even police, she said.
"If [minorities] look, say for example are perceived to be, white they have some more protections" - Rachel Simon-Kumar
The research found migrant youth from high-income countries of origin - Europe, North America, Australia and east Asia - were less likely to experience deprivation.
Simon-Kumar said inequities persisted across multiple generations for those from lower-income countries of origin.
"We also found effects in terms of health, mental health, in terms of being able to access health care, to those who were materially deprived or were poor, [they] found it harder to access health care," Simon-Kumar said.
The authors of the study said the results showed there was a greater need to better understand race as Aotearoa became more bicultural.
"We have to pay attention to how we understand race and particularly as New Zealand becomes more and more demographically mixed, but we are seeing more of multi-ethnicity... we need to understand that there are complex relationships amongst and between minority groups just as much as there are complex relationships between minority and majority groups," Simon-Kumar said.