Let’s make some history.

Do you remember where you voted in 1994? Where you were when the twin towers fell on 9/11? How about when we won the 1995 World Cup of Rugby?

More importantly, where did you stand in 2016? The year everything changed…

We are in the middle of making History.

It started picking up pace with Rhodes Must Fall which was followed by Fees Must Fall and either the Anti-Corruption marches or the Zuma Must Fall marches depending on your particular frame of mind. Penny Sparrow inadvertently kept the momentum going when she dropped a horrific tweet at the start of this year. Burning paintings at UCT, F### White People t-shirts and Afriforum chaos at Stellenbosch kept on nudging this thing forward.

We are in the middle of making History.

Suddenly the length and depth of conversations on Social Media has increased. More and more white people seem to be coming to the table and realising that an acknowledgement of ‘white privilege’ is not an acceptance of ‘white guilt’. Many of us have had our eyes opened to this idea that Richard Pithouse puts into words:

“The grace bestowed on the oppressors has not been extended to the oppressed.” [Richard Pithouse]

People are starting to wrestle with the idea of what Restitution might look like. Groups of friends are forming Common Change groups which look at being more creative with Generosity in a way that might look like a form of restitution. The ANC’s unwavering support is starting to look a little wavering in places. A movement is slowly starting to build of people who refuse to let racism happen in front of them, whether live or on social media, and stories are starting to be shared about people stepping in and declaring #NotOnOurWatch [some of these end well, some of these end badly]

We are in the middle of making History.

We have started to look deeper at cartoons like these:

And update them to even more truthful and painful ones like these:

We are in the middle of making History.

We are starting to question more. We are becoming more dissatisfied with ‘easy answers’ and detached excuses. We are starting to see the world through different eyes – realising when a panel giving a talk or the church congregation we sit with or the book club we hang out at is made up of people all of the same race. We are starting to be more bothered by that. We are changing up the diversity, gender and culture of the people we read who inform us through blog posts, podcasts, books and even where we get our news.

We are refusing to use terms like ‘colourblind’ and ‘rainbow nation’ knowing that although well-intentioned they can misrepresent the reality or even the reality we are chasing [i want to celebrate what makes you different from me. i want to learn from that. i want to hear a new story and sing a new song]. We are [finally] starting to learn each others languages [and by ‘each others’ i mean ‘yours’, i am finally starting to learn your language, because you have been speaking to me in mine all along].

We are starting to really see people. The woman who processes my groceries, the man who fills my car up with petrol and cleans my windscreen. The foreigner who guards my car while i go and watch a movie [the people who play the roles in the movies i watch are getting my attention] and the lady with her young child at the traffic light begging for money. We start to use peoples names and refuse to give in to the quick and easy and less awkward route of accepting the backup name that was given to them just so i could get my tongue around it. We are taking two or three tries to make sure we get it right.

We are in the middle of making History.

Some of us are starting to risk being hopeful. We have been nervous and anxious and even fearful for too long. We have heard the noise and read the tweets and stumbled into a comments section and seen the pictures and been thrown by the videos. But now we are trying to focus on the growing crowd of ants that is starting to realise that the ants always outnumber the crickets and that if the ants start to proclaim #NotOnOurWatch then #NotOnOurWatch becomes the reality. We are starting to form alliances and groups of people who ‘get’ the initial it and want to figure out together how to move forwards on this instead of spending all of our time trying to drag people across the very basic ‘it’ line.

We are being so inspired by the young leaders we see who are getting it and who have decided that it is time to lead us as a nation towards something even better than the notion of the rainbow we were all promised but never quite saw the gold of. Learners at schools who are so worried that the Revolution might be over without them getting to play a significant part. University students who in the middle of much chaos and seeming lack of leadership and direction are providing solid voices, helpful clarity and positive and active direction. Older activists who are sensing the nearness of the promised land and refusing to give in to a been-there-tried-that jadedness and discouragement of those who are only now figuring it out and climbing aboard. Church leaders who are gathering to listen and really try to hear and figure out what it means as people of faith to respond to a social justice that is scattered all throughout their holy scriptures.

We are in the middle of making History.

i think that realising that might be extremely helpful.

Because history is going to happen with or without you. Change is coming and it might be good or bad, but don’t let it pass you by with you looking on as a bystander or wondering what just happened.

What side of this story are you going to land on?

The ants outnumber the crickets. But the sadness is that it often takes them so long to realise that.

Come and be an ant with us. Just a few more ants and we can take down the next cricket.