All I wanted to do
was just show other people from the same background
as me that anything is possible,
even if it hasn't been done yet.
Welcome to Brown Pride’s base.
Come on in.
Talofa lava my name is Johnnie Timu.
I originate from Sāmoa.
But I was born and raised here in Manurewa, South Auckland.
The Beverly Hills of New Zealand.
Brown Pride started as an idea back in 2017.
Me and my mates were just working in logistics
and it wasn't really going anywhere.
One Friday I just asked them if they could come around a whiteboard
where I scribbled a couple things
we were good at and things we enjoyed, like training, music,
barbering and doing clothes and just said, ‘how about if we figured out
a way to make money out of things that we are good at or we enjoyed’.
Once they saw the whiteboard,
[they said] ‘Oh, shit, this guy's serious’.
Over here we have our barber shop.
This is sort of like an incubator in a way.
These are all barbers that are young.
The barbers sometimes get called out to
community events to give out free haircuts to the less fortunate.
Est 1929.
1929 is the year
of Black Saturday, which is the year New Zealand police shot down
the Mau leader.
Ever since 1929, Sāmoa started fighting for their independence.
Our founders are all of Sāmoan descent
and for us it was a time that we felt
our people stood up for themselves.
So we ain’t actually established in 1929.
We weren't even born then.
We weren't even sperms.
On Mondays we have a chiropractor that comes in.
Tuesdays we're trying to just lock in a doctor to come in.
Wednesdays we have Kyle,
who's our physio.
Thursday we have a sports massage and then Friday we have a counsellor
that comes in and checks in with our males.
The aim since the beginning that we started this journey
was to empower Pasifika and Māori through fitness, arts and community.
A lot of gym owners or a lot of gym facilities.
The focus is the physical health.
But over here, in Brown Pride I try drill in
the mental wellbeing and the socialising buzz of it.
And then physical is just the sort of side-effect that you get from that.
I’ll show you the back.
This is our
our content and music studio.
The studio is for like youth
that may have talent but don’t have a studio to go work at.
They'll come record here.
We have a crew called 216 Records.
They've been nominated for awards as well now.
Which is pretty out of it.
[Cheering]
Congrats.
I gave her all the answers.
[Laughs]
Johnnie: ‘Remember what I said on Saturday.
Fuck a CrossFit comp,
These are real wins.’
[Cheering]
Brown Pride, oh it means a lot of things.
But simply just like it being proud of who we are.
Being proud of our skin.
It means: by the people, for the people.
It was created from people within our community,
for our community.
And it's a safe space here.
I've only been here for like
about five weeks now, and I feel like I've known these guys for ages.
Here at Brown Pride it’s like friends that have become family for us.
The devil and the angel in our culture
is our humbleness.
Sometimes we hold back
just because we don't want to look like the big head
or the arrogant person.
That was probably the hardest
I keep like doubting myself because of other people's fears
I keep thinking this was stupid.
A message I would have said to a younger Johnnie
that was lost and didn't know what to do.
I’d say there's stories of our ancestors navigating seas with no maps,
no compasses, and here we are, just too scared to take a little risk.
And these guys were sailing seas and finding new lands.
So why should I be scared of anything?