Ko te hongi i te tino o ngā toa whakaihuwaka mekemeke o te ao, he rerenga kōtuku te rite. Koia te āhua mō tētahi whānau Māori nō Kemureti i tūtaki atu ki a Mohammed Ali i ngā tau ki muri. Ko ngā mahara o te whānau Nordstorm e hoki nei ki te rā i noho tahi rātou ko Ali, i te toronga mai o te toa ki Aotearoa nei.
Kātahi rā te nui o te aroha a Te Mana Tipene mo tōna hautipua a Muhammad Ali, ka whakaingoa i tōna taraka ko Ali Shuffle.
“My grandfather used to be a truck driver and named his truck the Ali Shuffle and so my mother rang through and contacted the hotel and said look um are we able to organise to meet Muhammad Ali,” hei tā Jared Nordstrom.
“When I phoned the hotel Intercontinental, I didn't actually tell them that my dad had cancer but I said, look my dad is a great fan, is there any chance we can bring the truck up and for us to meet him. And the manager was brilliant he said absolutely, we'll organise a time to come up,” hei tā Raewyn Nordstrom.
Kīhai a Ali i mōhio rā i te māuiui a Te Mana Tipene, heoi ka whakaae tonu a ia ki te tūtaki i te whānau me te taraka Ali Shuffle. Ka paorooro tonu ngā mahara a Raewyn me tōna tama a Jared.
“I went in and he came down and he was such a nice, just a very real person, I would describe it today as real whānau whānau,” hei tā Raewyn.
“I always looked up to him and I loved my grandfather so for me hearing Muhammad Ali was greatest, it was the two altogether,” hei tā Jared.
Kaore i roa, ka mate atu a Te Mana. Heoi, e kore rawa ngā mihi o te whānau Nordstrom e oti kia Ali, nāna anō i whakakī i te ōhāki nui o tō rātou pāpā.
Hei tā Jared, “Just the images that we've got there with him, talking to my grandfather, talking to us, posing for photos, like you know I imagine nowadays to meet a superstar or someone of that stature you know you just couldn't do that so I think it was a really unique opportunity.”
He matā kai kutu i te ao i te pō, haunga rā i te rīngi mekemeke heoi i te ao tōrangapū hoki. Kīhai rawa i mataku te tangata nei hei whakapaoho i ōna whakaaro mo te mana taurite o ngā tangata mangumangu o Amerika, me tana whakahē i te pakanga i waenga i a Amerika me Vietnam.
“I think that the affect that he had especially on indigenous peoples is that, you know, in his... the way that he put it out there, black was beautiful and you know it was good to be who he was, you know which was African American and there's parallels for all of us especially as Māori, you know it's good to be Māori. It's proud to be Māori,” hei tā Jared.
“He stood up for what he believed in, yes he became a Muslim and decided not to go to war and was penalised, degraded more than anyone would have been today and the decision he made I think was the right one,” hei tā Raewyn.
Kua mutu tō pakanga e te rangatira, moe mai rā Ali i roto i te rangimarie.