Quote Originally Posted by kiwitt
I prefer helping people based on "need" as opposed to their "race" or "color".

Does this make me a Racist ?
No, it does not make you a Racist. But it does not necessarily make you right.

Outside of a socialist utopia (where I confess I might feel at home), entitlements are not solely based on "need".

Bill Gates is not rich because he needs to be, but because he earned it and he is entitled to keep what he earns (thankfully, he's giving a lot of it away to needy causes but I'm going off on a tangent here...).

If you take something from someone else by force, one might be forgiven for thinking they have some right to restitution. You mentioned the example of Jews and Germans - most people accept that returning expropriated property or making equivalent recompense to Jews surviving Nazi Germany would be wholly legitimate whether or not those surviving Jews actually needed it.

Now, yes, this does get awfully muddled when so many years have passed. No, we can't give America back to the Native Americans etc. Yes, we do have to draw the line somewhere. So we're not going to give NZ back to the Maoris, but I personally don't feel too aggrieved if the NZ government does give their ancestors some payback above and beyond what they "need".

[I confess your specific point about the fraction of Maori in a person does not really engage me. We presumably don't want to get into detailed and intrusive genetic examinations, so treating all people of Maori descent equally does not seem too offensive to me.]

Sorry if this seems all wishy-washy bleeding heart liberal. We live in a messy, imperfect world - the NZ government's actions seem a pretty decent stab at doing the right thing, subject to the realities on the ground.