A new RNZ feature records community concerns alongside experiences of friendship, solidarity and life built across generations.
Indian New Zealanders have described how hostile public rhetoric can affect ordinary decisions and children's sense of belonging, in an RNZ feature published on Tuesday, 27 October.
The report follows families with different backgrounds and lengths of residence, including citizens raising children here and people whose family connections stretch back generations. It records worries about the effect of racist messages without presenting every family's experience as the same.
Academic Harpreet Singh told RNZ about the Sikh community's decision not to respond to provocation with confrontation. Other interviewees emphasised the warmth they had encountered in New Zealand, while remaining concerned about what children might absorb from hostile language.
The feature also describes efforts to strengthen relationships, including a Māori–Sikh gathering in South Auckland earlier this year. Its accounts are personal testimony, not a statistical measure of racist offending. Read RNZ's original feature
The community is a substantial part of contemporary New Zealand. Stats NZ recorded 292,092 people identifying as Indian in the 2023 Census. That figure describes ethnicity, rather than citizenship or birthplace. Stats NZ Indian ethnic-group summary
Police guidance says people should report suspected hate-motivated offending even when they cannot prove the motive. Reports can include the words used, the time and place, and available photographs or messages. Witnesses and supporters can also report.
Anyone in immediate danger should call 111. Incidents that have already happened, with no immediate danger, can be reported through 105 or Police's online reporting service. Police reporting guidance
