Give nothing to racism

What an honour it was to appear as one of the first batch of people in the Human Rights’ Commission’s Give Nothing to Racism campaign. Taika Waititi, New Zealander of the Year (and a Lucire feature interviewee from way back) introduced the campaign with a hilarious video, and it was an honour to be considered alongside my old classmate Karl Urban, and other famous people such as Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Neill, Neil Finn, Lucy Lawless, and Hollie Smith. Somewhere along the line the Commission decided it would get some non-celebs like me.
   The idea is that racism propagates through each of us. Laughing along with a joke. Letting casual racism in social media comments carry on. Excusing racist behaviour. Or simply accepting it as “the way it is”. There’s no place for it in 2017, certainly not in this country, and for those who seek to indulge in it (I’m looking at certain people in politics and the media in particular), you’re simply covering up the fact you’ve very little of substance to offer. I #givenothingtoracism.

I #givenothingtoracism. We should call out racist jokes, racist reporting, racist posts—whether they’re coming from people around us, or those in the public eye, such as political leaders. If an organization is doing it, don’t give them your time or business. We might not be as bad as some countries, but it’s not to say that it’s absent—and I want to live in a country where we all get on as Kiwis, regardless of our race. Check out http://givenothing.co.nz (link in bio) where you can make your own video. Join me as well as many other New Zealanders who are giving nothing to racism. #Wellington #Aotearoa #whanganuiatara #NZ #humanrights #humanrightscommission

A post shared by Jack Yan 甄爵恩 (@jack.yan) on Jun 14, 2017 at 5:22pm PDT