You know Taika Waititi — aka the immensely talented director who has blessed us with films like Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit.
Like other celebrities, Taika has been showing solidarity to the Bla(c)k Lives Matter movement by sharing resources, educating his audience and acknowledging both Australia and New Zealand's systemic racism towards their First Nations peoples.
And today, he reshared a 2017 anti-racism video — which was made in collaboration with the New Zealand Human Rights Commission — because it is "still relevant".
Three years ago NZ made this thing. Still relevant. https://t.co/L1gRLfNSUW
The video was released as part of New Zealand's "Give Nothing To Racism" campaign, which urged New Zealanders to challenge their own prejudices and take a stand against casual forms of racism.
Taika delivers a more humorous take of the usual anti-racism messaging by using satire. For example, the beginning of the video starts with Taika asking Kiwis to help support the very important cause of racism — because it needs others to survive.
He then goes on to explain how people don't need to be a "full on racist" and that subtle things, like "a smile, a cheeky giggle, even a simple nod in agreement" can add up and give others the message that racism is okay.
The video then goes into a "Frequently Asked Questions About Racism" portion, where Taika reiterates how social pressure and even just a little bit of racism can add up to make it noticed by those on the receiving end.
And how there's absolutely no benefit whatsoever to being racist.
It ends with Taika delivering a very important and powerful line, which reads: "Remember, the only thing that can keep racism alive and help it grow, is feeding it. Nurturing it. And that's where you come in — will you help it flourish? What will you give to racism?"
Although the video is satirical, fans agreed that Taika absolutely hit the nail on the head about casual, everyday racism that often goes unchecked.
@TaikaWaititi Sadly it is still very relevant. Thanks for highlighting this again though as it's a great way to present the message that even "casual racism" is far from ok. Every off hand joke or remark impacts someone negatively and that we all need to be aware of this fact.
@TaikaWaititi Damn good message! I can see racist people laughing all the way through it, thinking for a minute after it’s ended, and going “oh, hey!”
@TaikaWaititi You’ve always stood up to racism and inspired us to do better and speak out, and we love you for it sir <3
@TaikaWaititi You're such a unique person, Taika! Your humour is so poignant. It makes me so happy to see how you put across such heavy messages in the most subtle way. Huge respect! Love from India!