Following in the steps of companies around the world that are removing racist or insensitive names and logos from their products, Tip Top and Pascall confirmed on Wednesday that the word seen as derogatory by Inuit will soon be history. Read more

It attracted coverage from every major media outlet in New Zealand.

"St Patrick's Church Masterton and the Pastoral Council of the Catholic Parish of Wairarapa sincerely apologise for the hurt and distress that the sign posted outside the church last week has caused to many members of our community," it said.

"Our Parish Council and community will stand against and speak out against all racism, including the institutional racism suffered by many people all over the world. Black Lives Matter."

Cardinal Dew, the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, said the sign was placed when the parish priest was away last week.

On June 3 Pope Francis denounced the "sin of racism" and twice identified Floyd as the victim of a "tragic" killing.

"My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life."

"At the same time, we have to recognize that the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating."

"Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost."

On the same day, the Pope called the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop José Gomez.

He also called Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso who was recently photographed with a group of priests dropped to one knee at the spot where protesters had clashed with police the night before.

They had prayed in silence for about eight minutes, the time Floyd spent under the officer's knee before becoming unconscious.

Seitz said the pope thanked him without mentioning the demonstration, but the context was clear: "My recent words and actions on the events that are taking place in the country now" after Floyd's killing.

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• times-age.co.nz
• time.com
• voanews.com
• americamagazine.org
• Image: learningenglish

But its owner says the costumes are part of a old tradition, and the event is just harmless fun for children.

Popular Birkenhead eatery Dutch Delight has had a visit from Sinterklaas (Santa Claus), and his helper Black Pete. Continue reading

Constable Greg Marsden said two headstones had been hit with so much force that they "have broken in half".

The third headstone had a swastika painted on it.

Devoy is absolutely right in saying that it is up to all New Zealanders to act against hatemongers, said Wellington Interfaith Council president Wendy Matthews.

"Our interfaith council, and others around the country, are working constantly to build understanding and co-operation between New Zealand's faith groups, so that violence arising from religious differences, unfortunately now so widespread overseas, will not develop here," she added.

Every year the Human Rights Commission responds to thousands of enquiries and complaints and approximately a third of them are to do with racial discrimination.

This year marked the tenth year of the Commission's Diversity Programme - launched in the wake of attacks on Jewish graves in 2004.

Preaching without Prejudice a resource from the Diocese of Broken Bay.

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• Supplied: Wellington Interfaith Council
• The Times of Israel
• Image: Radio New Zealand

Chris Lilley's comedy 'Jonah from Tonga' follows the life of a rebellious 14-year-old schoolboy and his run-ins with family, friends and teachers.

Professor Helen Lee is the Head of La Trobe University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She's spent more than 20 years researching Tongan society, with a particular focus on the youth diaspora's relationship with the 'homeland'. She believes the portrayal of Tongan youth as "stupid" and "thuggish" is not satire. Continue Reading

In the research for an AUT University study on ethnicity and policing, all but one of the 16 people interviewed by researchers Sameer Nisar and Edwina Pio for the study were Muslims.

"Overall, the participants revealed that they felt safe and secure in New Zealand, particularly in their contact with the police. They reported that they had never been profiled or stopped due to their affiliations with Islam."

This was described as "very positive", and the report noted that Muslims in many other Western nations, such as the United States and Britain, often claimed to be targeted by police there because of their affiliations to Islam.

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• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: sO.wp.com

But views are divided however on whether the problem is a lack of tolerance across the board or white institutional racism against people of colour.

At a Conference on Racism convened by Auckland Council's Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel at AUT University on Saturday, many of the audience members, hailing from countries all over the world, spoke about the institutional racism they had faced in New Zealand - from being pulled over by police for no reason, to sitting down on public transport next to white people who immediately vacated their seats, to being racially profiled for searches at the airport while whites were left alone.

Panel chairperson Dr Camille Nakhid, who is also acting chair of the advisory board of the Pacific Media Centre, was just one of the many speakers who pointed out that combatting racist attitudes meant talking about white privilege and white supremacy.

The panel had "met with a considerable amount of opposition" to its plan to hold a conference on racism, Nakhid said.

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• Pacific Scoop
• Image: Pacific Scoop

"How would he and they feel if that happened? Not too happy I would imagine!" says Chris Ford.

On Wednesday Prosser apologised for comments made in a magazine column that young Muslim men should be banned from flying on western airlines.

"If the greatest identifiable threat to modern aviation security is posed by young Muslim males, then surely the answer is to prohibit young Muslim males from flying on our aeroplanes."

Prosser also claimed New Zealand's rights were being denigrated by "misogynist troglodytes from Wogistan."

When asked on National Radio's Nine to Noon programme what provoked the article he said: ‘‘I had my pocket knife confiscated. This is the pocket knife that I've owned for - I couldn't count the number of years - and I used to travel with internationally prior to 9/11 before the world went mad.''

He said he had also carried it up and down the country 30-odd times last year.

The New Zealand Federation of Islamic Associations is laying a formal complaint with the Human Rights Commission over Prosser's comments.

Federation of Muslim Association President Anwar Ghani hopes the complaint will see Mr Prosser step down from his position.

He says a person of his intellect doesn't deserve to be in Parliament.

Prosser says he won't resign from Parliament for his anti-Muslim "brain explosion" in spite of the growing consensus that he is not fit to be an MP.

Meanwhile, Prosser's "trusty" swiss pocket knife, which inspired the 1700-word column, remains in a safe at Christchurch Airport.

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• NewstalkZB
• New Zealand Herald
• Voxy.co.nz
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: NZFirst.org

This led to more than two thousand online responses on Close Up's Facebook page, with most upset by the comments: "I am embarrassed about the arrogance and ignorance of Popata", "He should focus his anger on a better New Zealand of one people", and "I am totally bored with this victim mentality." Others took issue about whether Popata should have been given any air time at all.

Read More in Nga Reo Tangata- A Human Rights Commission Newsletter

Mr de Bres says it is typical of New Zealand media to give plenty of coverage to controversial figures making strong statements rather than focussing on the actual story.

He says this kind of coverage harms race relations and the media need to think whether they are being responsible before repeating such a debate.

By contrast on his blog, Maui Street, Morgan Godfrey urges his readers to view the Maori TV documentary on the "Urewera Four" which he says "sets the standard for current affairs in New Zealand and on Monday night the show raised the standard - again."

"We have very clear Catholic social teaching on racism but, more broadly, as an international Church we also have learned many lessons about living with cultural diversity." Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

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• Radio New Zealand
• Maui St
• Image: Stuff.co.nz