If you want a good book to shake you into action, shed your biases, and open your eyes to the world around you, Leave Your Big Boots at the Door is the book for you. Scratch that – everyone needs to read Leave Your Big Boots at the Door. Edited by Lorraine McLeod, Leave Your Big Boots at the Door contains interviews and conversations with Pākehā addressing racism against Māori, how it is perpetuated through generations and institutions, and what can be done about it. Quite simply, this book makes the discussion of racism in New Zealand, especially racism affecting Māori, a whole lot easier to understand (and a whole lot easier to talk about to friends and whānau).

In Leave Your Big Boot at the Door, seventeen Pākehā discuss the history of racism against Māori in Aotearoa, and their work to eliminate it. They come from a range of occupations, including police, education, health, psychology, social services, Corrections, business, and the law. This is an important and inspiring book, one that encourages Pākehā to face up to our past and embrace an optimistic future for Aotearoa.

The book’s title comes from the impactful words Pam Thorburn was told while working as an assistant probation officer. The probation officer at the time, a Scotsman, gave her this advice which she mentions she’s carried through into everything she’s done since. The whole quote is as follows:

‘The people we work with do not invite us into their lives; they are compelled to have us in their lives. They are part of their whānau and wider communities and we must work to make sure they stay connected and supported. Many families will have multiple needs, so look beyond the individual. Always behave with respect and when you enter their lives do not trample of their beliefs, values, dreams and aspirations- leave your bloody big boots at the door!’

This quote is one of those lines I read and immediately knew I wanted to read the entire thing. The introduction alone told me this would be a nonfiction book I hold to high praise next to Under the Weather, and one I would be advocating for and recomending the world over.

As Lorriane McLeod notes, it is Pākehā who need to do the mahi and the heavy lifting to prevent racism, because it is Pākehā who perpetrate racism against Māori. It is the white supermist views of colonialsts generations past, the ones who came from Europe and whose views and beliefs carry an understanding of white superiority and cultural rightness, who brought racism to Aotearoa. It is these biases and family teachings that Pākehā need to address, unpack, think critically about, and reconsider in the face of not only a multicultural society, but a country where life and culture was rich and abundant before European settlers arrived.

I don’t want to go into too much more about the contents of the book, otherwise I will share everything and water down the impact of reading such words yourself. It truly is a profound and direct discussion about a topic we all know and handle on a daily basis, whether we are the perpetrators or the victims. Leave Your Big Boots at the Door is a must-read for all, but especially Pākehā and those open to learning how to fight against racism. It is an essential in the 21st century, and a wake-up call for those whose eyes have been closed for too long. This is a book that is also for Māori, an acknowledgement that there is work being done by people, by Pākehā, and that we are working hard as citizens of Aotearoa to eliminate the racism in our country. Leave Your Big Boots at the Door is not a book to miss out on.