‘It’s not funny’: New Zealand council forced to remove ‘racist’ sign

A New Zealand council has been forced to remove a sign at a local swimming pool after a series of racism accusations.

The Auckland Council came under fire for the sign which addressed “code brown” situations in public pools . The sign showed an image of a Caucasian child telling a Maori child not to forget to go to the toilet before  swimming.

While to some it may seem innocent enough, Labour MP Tamati Coffey held a completely different view, taking to Facebook to express his thoughts.

“Anybody know which pool this sign lives at? It’s been doing the FB rounds. I need to speak to the manager,” he wrote in a post

The 39-year-old then spoke to a television station, claiming the sign “didn’t sit right” with him.

“My gut feeling was – did it have to be the little brown boy?” Coffey told Newshub.

The MP went on to say how he believed the council could have taken a different route to spread the message. According to Newshub Auckland Council has since removed the signs in question from a number of swimming pools in the city.

The decision has sparked mixed responses from residents with some commending the MP for sparking the conversation, while others said they didn’t understand how it was racist.

“It’s funny at first glance. But then you realise the racial profiling. And it’s not funny anymore. We are so conditioned to subtle racism, that we just laugh and say nothing,” one person commented on Facebook.

“Thanks Tamati it appears those of entitlement think this is a big joke whereas being Maori and having experienced racism and our culture and language being swept under the carpet and almost lost this ‘silly sign’ still demonstrates racism in our beloved NZ,” another wrote.

Many other social media users claimed it was political correctness gone mad and there was nothing wrong with the sign.

“Why is this culturally insensitive? Are people that precious? If it was the other way round I don’t think a single ‘white’ person would be offended. Stop being so bloody precious,” someone said.

While another added: “Why does everyone read into this too much??? It’s just a bloody sign, stop being so PC”.

The removal of the sign comes months after an Australian discount store received a brutal slamming from Aussies across the country over controversial figurines found on its shelves

Hot Bargain at the Lake Haven Shopping Centre on NSW’s Central Coast came under fire over the weekend for a collection of shirtless, indigenous Australian figurines holding didgeridoos and boomerangs.

The perfect gift for white ppl who ‘love Aboriginal culture’ but would rather not interact with us in real life. pic.twitter.com/Af9mA7fXPR

— Pearson In The Wind (@LukeLPearson) December 9, 2018

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Indigenous X Luke Pearson was the first to launch the “racist” figurines into the spotlight.

Posting a photo of them on Twitter he wrote: “The perfect gift for white ppl (sic) who ‘love Aboriginal culture’ but would rather not interact with us in real life”.

The post received a flurry of attention from other outraged Aussies who were gobsmacked such a thing could be sold in this day and age.

Read more: ‘Unspeakably appalling’: Discount store forced to apologise over ‘racist’ figurines

“Good god! That’s truly shocking. Who the hell buys them,” one person exclaimed.

“Not for me, would rather meet and be with Aboriginal culture,” another said.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think the New Zealand council made the right decision to remove the signs?