An Auckland teacher who wore a 'Make American Great Again' hat to a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest has apologised for "the message [wearing] this communicated".
Ethan Aloiai, who works at Manukau Christian School, was among the thousands of people who marched in Auckland's protest on Monday. It was organised following the death of African-American man George Floyd who died in the United States last week after a police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for nine minutes. Chauvin has since been charged with murder.
His death sparked international protests under the BLM movement over the treatment of minorities by police.
After Monday's protest in Auckland, Aloiai posted a video to Facebook saying he attended the march, along with his brothers-in-law, wearing Donald Trump's MAGA caps.
The hats, which are commonly worn by Trump's supporters, have become symbolic of the President's policies and values, which many argue are racist and sexist. But Aloiai said in his video he doesn't agree with this.
"That hat is not a sign of racism. I wasn't wearing it to incite racism. In fact, I was wearing it to represent a diverse range of ideas."
He doesn't explain what those ideas are, but said his hat was stolen and lit on fire, which was "kinda funny".
His video has since been viewed over 113,000 times.
Aloiai has now written an apology on Facebook where he said wearing the hat gave unintended messages.
"I would like to issue a sincere apology for the message this communicated to some," he said.
"I understand that to some people the hat represented a symbol of white supremacy and my wearing of it provoked them in unhelpful ways."
He added he's sorry for the hurt that was caused and said this symbol wasn't what he wanted to communicate.
"The hat does not mean to me what it means to many others, as many prominent black figures and celebrities such as Kanye West and Candace Owens regularly wear the same hat. I was in no way trying to communicate a message of racism."
Aloiai rejects "every form of racism and ethnic superiority", but believes the intended communication and the actual communication were two different things.
His workplace, Manukau Christian School, has been contacted for comment.
