While these incidents do not represent the majority of people in Aotearoa who have embraced me with open arms and whom I now represent, it is important that we acknowledge racism is still alive in Hamilton and in Aotearoa. As I said in 2019 after the Christchurch mosque attacks, how we deal with racism as a community and as a country will not be decided by how many bouquets of flowers or cards we leave at the mosques and how many social media messages we write but by how we stand up for others when next time another adopted Kiwi is being racially targeted. Speak up not for one religion or one community but for our collective identity as a peaceful and diverse country, a country that may not be perfect but is definitely our home, my home.