From a speech Tobacco Companies – It’s Time To Go, released today;1/ And I have fired people for smoking in the wrong places.
It hasn’t made me the most popular son of the North, but as Errol Flynn once said “frankly I don’t give a damn”. Tobacco is killing my people, and I will use every weapon to defeat this monster.
2/ Liberals will say though that smoking is about Maori people making choices. But I say no. HELL NO!!!
3/ Addiction to cigarettes is also part of institutional racism,
because tobacco companies use their structures, their policies and their practices to oppress our people in the same way as government agencies have.
4/ And honestly folks, getting rid of tobacco is the only logical conclusion to the work you and many others have been doing for years. It makes more sense than just trying to manage the impact of tobacco.
5/ And I look forward to when Maori people can finally enjoy the same rights and privileges as everyone else, because we have given so much, and because we deserve better.
2 comments:
It has just occured to me, most gang members are Maori, if the sale of tobacco is made illegal it is the gangs who will take over the running of the resulting black market. Hone is simply trying to create jobs for his people.
And I though it was Clark Gable in 'Gone With The Wind', not Errol Flynn.
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