Erin Thomas, Tamsin Blundell, Dani Pickering and Elli Yates formed what became Gathering at the Gate at the Social Movements, Resistance, and Social Change conference in Te Whanganui ā-Tara in November 2020. We had already met online through Tauiwi mō Matike Mai Aotearoa, as well as through attending anti-racism trainings with Turtle Island-based organisation White Awake. We agreed that an Aotearoa-appropriate version of White Awake's foundational course "Before We Were White" would add significant richness and power to Pākehā capacity to rise up and support the realisation of tino rangatiratanga at a constitutional level by 2040, as envisioned by Matike Mai Aotearoa. We received blessings from White Awake director Eleanor Hancock as well as from Māori colleagues and kaumātua that, yes, this is a space that needs to be held here.

None of us are experts, though we bring knowledge from fields as diverse as education, law, history, language revitalisation, parenting, genealogy, activism, and facilitation. We are deeply committed to Tiriti-based anti-racism and are guided by a vision for our peoples as deeply-rooted, humble, long-term guests in Aotearoa with responsibilities as such. We are supported by a crowd of colleagues, comrades, and co-conspirators from around the motu who continue to help us develop the richness, depth, and diversity of what we are able to offer. We hope that you'll join us.