Manawatū teen impresses with attitude towards fighting racism and coronavirus
Media Story by George Heagney, Stuff.
Manukura's Shaye Witehira has won the Manawatū race unity speech competition for the second year in a row. Photo: WARWICK SMITH / STUFF
A young Manawatū orator has again caused people to take notice for a speech taking a stand against racism.
Manukura student Shaye Witehira, 17, won the Manawatū race unity speech competition last week, which was held online due to the national lockdown.
It is the second year in a row she has won the competition and she qualifies for the national semifinals next month, which will also be online. She was Manawatū runner-up in 2018.
She qualified for the national semifinals last year, but was unable to attend because of a family bereavement.
This year's topic was "to face the future, look to the past" and participants had to deliver their speeches on camera, rather than before a crowd.
Witehira said it felt different this year, but she was glad the competition was still running.
"The general idea of what I spoke about, obviously, with us going through Covid-19, and I just explained the timeline of how that started and where that got us to. I linked it with racism in general. Obviously both of them are still relative to each other.
"I intertwined them and thought of how to portray ways of fighting Covid-19 and also ways to fight racism."
She said she wanted to focus on ways to move forward positively.
She started writing her speech as the effects of the virus began to hit New Zealand.
Judge Veronica Tawhai said Witehira shone for her well-constructed and insightful speech.
The awards were started by the New Zealand Baha'i community in 2001 and help young people increase their understanding of race relations and share their views on how to promote unity in Aotearoa.