When it comes to things about race, i have been on a journey for just over two years.

i have certainly not arrived and assume this will be a life long journey. But i did realise that i couldn’t ignore it any more or choose to get involved if, when and how it suited me. Living in South Africa right now means that issues of race, justice and poverty have to be forefront in my mind, conversation, activity and life choices. Anything less than that is just not good enough.

And along the way i’ve been writing about it, i’ve been reading a whole lot [so grateful for the many people around the world who continue to help educate me on this one] and i’ve been letting others use my space to share their words.

i thought it might be helpful for others who may be at different points in their journeys to share in some of these pieces and people and hopefully be inspired or challenged and changed…

SOME HELPFUL RACE RESOURCES

So what follows is a collection of some of the most helpful pieces i have been able to find which have helped me or others along the way and i hope you will find something here to help you. If you find something particularly inspiring or useful, please feel free to share it – either by passing on this whole post or by sending a link to the particular piece to someone you think it will help. Otherwise tag people in wherever this was shared so that they can have the chance to benefit as well.

It might be super helpful to hear a little bit of my story and how i realised that sitting back and not being actively involved in conversations and engagements about race was no longer an option, both as a person, but especially as a Christ follower.

i wrote this piece for 1Africa on Othering which i think is one of the easiest ways to dismiss people and their problems and push them to the side: Othering: Getting to Know the Other

Here is one of the most helpful articles i have found, titled 10 Things you should Know about White Privilege, which has links to some of the best people or analogies that have helped me grow my understanding in these things.

How the concept of ‘The Better Black’ can be truly hurtful and really unhelpful, via the sharing of my friend Thandi – ‘The Better Black’

WHAT ARE/AREN’T WE LOOKING FOR?

This article on White Fragility can be very helpful for those of us looking for our blind spots: White Fragility: Why it’s so hard to talk to white people about racism

If you don’t understand why “Black Lives Matter” needs to be a thing and why “All Lives Matter” doesn’t, then read this post titled ‘All White Lives Matter’ 

Why i [and others] don’t believe that being ‘Colourblind’ [“I don’t see colour”] is not the most helpful solution or end point in all this. ‘Can’t we all just be Colourblind’.

Why i don’t think that Equality is what we should be chasing – ‘When Equality is not the best thing to chase’

If you are open to hearing some people of colour share some things they would like you to hear, check out ‘What I would love my white Friends to hear’

The idea of being an ally to people of colour is appealing, but is also something we have to think deeply about as broken down in this post called ‘A better Better Ally description’

Why the word ‘but’ following the phrase ‘I’m not racist’ never ends well in this post, ‘I’m not racist, but…’

This Sunday i was on Cape Talk for an interview with Terence Mentor around Social Media and Social Justice and despite them calling me Brat Anderson it still might be worth listening to:

The current situations in our Universities have created a polarisation across the country with a lot of generalised statements and opinions coming from a lot of people who really don’t know what is actually going on on the ground. While i believe there is good and bad, helpful and unhelpful, creative and destructive on all sides of the question and that there is no right side and wrong side in totality, here are three posts i put together to express some of the positive aspects linked to the University protests:

The Passion of the Cries – being inspired by the passion and strength of the struggle songs.

What Bastille has to add to Universities shut down – some song lyrics that inspired me and helped me reflect on some aspects of #FeesMustFall

Look what these university hooligans are up to now – an event tbV and i stumbled into that told a bit of a different story

And finally, at the end of the day i really am hopeful for South Africa and here are some reasons why: ‘Hope for South Africa’

Did you find any of these particularly helpful?

Was there another article, conversation, analogy or link you can share with us that helped remove your blinkers and get you more deeply engaged? i’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.