THE ANCESTRAL MIND #036 - THE LEGACY OF SUPPRESSION: CLEARING THE COLONIAL STATIC FROM OUR MINDS

The colonial machine

When we talk about the challenges facing our whānau in Taitokerau, we often look at lost land or broken promises. But there is another side to colonisation that we rarely discuss, the deliberate attempt to standardise the way our minds work. We can call this heavy, corporate setup "Babylon." It’s an outdated operating system that treats our world like a cold machine made of separate parts. It insists that every single person must be squeezed into the same mold to be considered useful. For people with unique minds that thrive on varying rhythms and deep connections, this machine has been completely hostile for over a century.

Silencing our seers

The historical proof of this hostility is very clear. In 1907, the colonial government passed a specific law called the Tohunga Suppression Act. This was a targeted strike against the unique leadership and traditional knowledge systems of the Māori world. What our ancestors recognised as a beautiful spiritual gift guided by Wairua Tapu, the colonial state re-labelled as madness, bad practice, or insanity. By outlawing the practices of our traditional experts, specifically the matakite, or seers, and traditional healers, the Crown effectively criminalised a highly visionary way of thinking. They cut at the roots of our leadership to ensure the community lost its guidance.

Standardising the soul

This tracking was part of a larger effort to turn our people into quiet, predictable workers for the industrial machine. A few years later, the government passed the 1911 mental defectives law, which introduced cruel categories to lock away people who did not fit in. Many of those who were labeled as defective were simply neurodivergent individuals whose deep processing and creative problem-solving skills were completely misunderstood by the state. The system did not want navigators or visionaries who questioned authority, it wanted quiet factory hands who would follow the clock without question.

The prophet's resistance

A powerful example of standing up against this machine is the Tūhoe leader, Rua Kēnana. He carried the classic traits of a true visionary leader. He resisted unfair state control and built a peaceful, self-sufficient community based on divine instructions. The government launched a massive campaign against him because his mind refused to bow to the rigid rules of the state. When we see the high rates of our people locked up in cells or struggling on the margins of society today, we are seeing the direct, ongoing impact of this old system.

Healing our spaces

To restore health to our communities, we must dismantle these old habits of control. This is not about breaking rules just to be difficult. It is about admitting that the current system acts like an illness, actively fighting against its own most creative thinkers. We need to move away from the cold logic of separation and return to a lifestyle of true connection. We must ensure that our unique thinkers are loved, protected, and valued for the clarity they bring to the whānau.

Creating safe harbours

True healing means we must move from trying to correct our people to simply connecting with them. We must reject the harmful pressure that forces our youth to mask their natural selves just to blend into an industrial mold. Instead, we can restore mana and whakapapa by building “safe harbours”, our own modern economic pā, right here in the North. These are local spaces where our unique minds can work, trade, and live using their natural strengths without the heavy energy drain of trying to appear normal (masking).

A call to leadership

It is time to look at our history with fresh eyes and realise that your difference was once valued as a vital leadership trait. Guided by the peaceful teachings of Ihu (Yeshua's name in the Paipera Tapu), we can build a society based on love, equity, and goodwill to mankind. Your unique way of seeing the world is not a medical mistake, it is an asset designed to help our people thrive. Let us clear away the colonial static, back our grassroots agency, and let Taitokerau become a shining light for the rest of the world.