It begins with a cartoon posted on Facebook:
And before long someone jumping on with a “But Zuma orchestrated the Red Wedding, is responsible for ongoing Adam Sandler movies and killed all the unicorns!”
To which I responded with:
Racism 101: There is a scenario in which we can comfortably say that Jacob Zuma has not been a great leader in many respects AND also see that there is something in ourselves which needs to change. The answer is BOTH/AND not either/or…
If your response to having an aspect of racism or privilege pointed out in your life is to point at Jacob Zuma and list things he has done wrong, then that is equivalent of saying something like, “John committed a murder so it’s okay that i steal my neighbour’s car because look how bad murder is.” No, they are BOTH wrong. And we don’t need to wait til John is caught for you to start being held accountable for what you did.
This feels so simple and yet so necessary a point to get. The BOTH and the AND… over the need to EITHER and OR it.
Is it not maybe possible [and likely] that the president and the government has some [a lot!] of work to do and much to be held accountable for and also that you and i have some [a lot!] of work to do and much to be held accountable for.
i think the EITHER/OR is huge launch into defensiveness. i think in this whole race conversation that so many white people have been so ridiculously defensive and i don’t understand it, to be honest. It feels so simple to me to admit that apartheid was a heinous evil thing. Then to suggest that only twenty years down the line there is still work to be done in dismantling what was brilliantly set up to be so destructively effective. That seems straightforward – i would be surprised if it was any different. Figuring out how i have benefited from apartheid seems to be where many people struggle, but again that one you can join the dots on pretty quickly, without too much effort.
Which leaves us with the “Well what now?” which is the question that i am so stoked to see so many people of all races, shapes, cultures and forms are wrestling with in so many different ways. What i long for is for more people to join in. Not feel bad or carry white guilt or give up everything they have or anything like that. Just recognise and acknowledge and say, “How do we make this better?”
Which doesn’t seem like the hugest thing to ask, does it?
Oh, and also a bit of proof that Jacob Zuma did not kill all the unicorns:
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So great to hear thoughts from a fellow South African. I’m Indian but I’m the rich kind so even if I don’t have “white privilege”, I have a lot of privilege and it’s something my fellow privileged peers don’t understand about themselves at all! I get so pissed off when rich Indians and white people complain about how they’re currently so disadvantaged even though they’ve gone to good schools and live in nice houses. After doing some reading, particularly Eusebius McKaiser, (check him out if you haven’t already, this is a must!), I realise how many underlying racist and ignorant attitudes I’ve had. While I’ve never been outright racist and never let race come in the way of the friendships I have, there are a lot of important things I’ve never considered. I used to complain all the time about the quota system and people with lower marks than me getting into places I don’t but honestly considering the HUGE barriers apartheid placed, it makes sense. Even if I don’t get into a certain university I know I have ample opportunities that so many don’t due to circumstances they can’t control that were not their fault. Look forward to reading more 🙂
Thanks Layla, great and helpful comments – might be interesting to have a glimpse of your story if you’d be up to writing it for us sometime in terms of how you came to realise you had privilege and stuff you learnt from Eusebius and other sources – have not managed to read either of his books yet but definitely on my list of want to’s cos so many people have said so.
Thanks again
love brett fish [brettfish@hotmail.com]
[…] As i’ve done my best to navigate the tricky waters of sitting somewhere in between the two extremes who both think i am getting it largely wrong, one principle i have spoken regularly about is holding on to the BOTH/AND over the EITHER/OR. […]