Some thoughts linked to #BlackMonday that took place in South Africa this past week…

i imagine an up market coffee shop somewhere in the heart of Cape Town where black clothed wearing upper class people are sipping on their frozen no-whip skinny ironies…

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i woke up this morning with no idea what i was going to wear – which is stupid, really, cos Monday is Batman t-shirt day [this is not a joke – every Monday i wear my free-with-Entertainment-Weekly-subscription Batman t-shirt – some kind of wannabe eccentricity move on my part perhaps].

i had heard rumours of a wearing black day which i quickly discovered was called Black Monday and even had its own #BlackMonday hashtag with matching tweets.

i also heard rumours that it was bright colour wearing day which i assume was in opposition to the #BlackMonday crew but i didn’t see a lot on this so i’m not quite sure.

i also saw one post about someone saying that wearing red meant you wanted to see Helen Zille axed which is confusing to me cos isn’t everybody already there?

Also the dramatic irony of the fact that the majority of my clothes are black [some fully black for improv and others various shades of black plus design because festivals and camps tend to print designs on black t-shirts and just because].

i think i was secretly going to just hide out at home and just not find out too much information about #BlackMonday so that i could just let it quietly slip me by, when i received a message in my inbox asking for my opinion.

[Little did he know]

Hello Brett, do you know if there’s any legitimacy to the black Monday campaign?

Want to be supportive but don’t want to jump on just any bandwagon.
So i jumped on to the Twitterer and typed in #BlackMonday and BOOM!
AN ANGEL CALLED ZACH
Fortunately i had a walk date with my friend Zach and so i typed and shared and copied a few things from the Twitterer on to my Facebook page, shared an excellent article by my friend Tristan Pringle, titled If I Had To Wear Black, and then literally headed for the hills.
[Which, as a tip, i have discovered is an excellent way of letting some conversation generate because if i was online i would have been responding to people as they wrote their thoughts, but this way conversations could happen without me and then later with me again]
We had an amazing walk if you must know – Zach is a breath of fresh air and at 17 such an incredible thinker and processor and doer [do not look down on the young! i very much think they might have the solutions for us all in this!].
WHAT I POSTED
First status i shared was from my friend Sam Mahlawe:
To be honest I am not impressed by the #ZumaMustFall #BlackMonday protests. It appears to be selective outrage, which only deepens the divide in our country. If you are all in for protesting against Zuma (and the ANC), but have never said anything about White Monopoly Capital that still runs deep in our country, then I encourage you to think critically and truthfully about what, and most importantly WHO it is that you are truly fighting for. Ask yourself whether you have ever been quick to express similar outrage and commitment to fighting bank collusion, private owned wealth, structural inequality, lack of economic transformation and restitution, poverty, unemployment and so on. If the answer is a resounding no, then my friend you must understand that is not only hypocritical but ultimately unjust and anti-equality for all. Let us all do better for the sake of our country.

*Sidenote: This is NOT a proZuma/ pro-current ANC post. It is a post against selective and self-interested justice. #livejusticedaily
Then i shared some tweets from the Twitterer:

Another thought before suiting up for Black Monday is to jump on the Twitterer and read through some of the comments people are making about #BlackMonday without getting defensive but really trying to hear what is being said and expressed and some of the pain and frustration alongside that…

eg.

Whenever you see whites protesting you must know it has nothing to do with:
• Racism
• Land
• Inequality
• White privilege
#Blackmonday

[Phiwayinkosi ngcobo‏ @Nyuswapw]

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hit me up when there are protests against racism and inequality. #Blackmonday

[Jason’s Lyric‏ @Mvutyana]

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How can someone who can’t even pronounce your name have your best interest at heart #BlackMonday

[Sibonakaliso Mhlongo‏ @SMhlongoEFF]

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#WhiteTheftMonday

#Blackmonday is like the one who robbed the entire bank protesting against an ATM bomber.

This is crap

[Advocate Savage‏ Isaac Ditshego Moselane

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Nywe nywe race doesn’t matter. Let’s unify and call out corruption. Wherrrrreeee is this unity when we talk land huh???? #Blackmonday

Tsek

[Bonga‏ @bongabotha]

Those started to generate some conversation, but i was still busy posting:

Actually this one sucker punched me the hardest…

Somaphunga‏ @Le_Shifu

“In South Africa, our land.”

Black Monday comparison

Which this article which someone linked dives into a little more deeply:

https://qz.com/697846/aerial-photos-show-that-south-africas-inequality-and-segregation-is-far-from-over/

And then another tweet from my friend Sharlene from the night before:

And Sharlene Swartz also sums it up well:

White People – pls only wear black tomorrow if u r as committed to restitution and redistribution as u r opposed to corruption #BlackMonday

i followed all that up by sharing the post from Tristan Pringle, highlighting these two paragraphs:

“And before I wear black, I will remember my brothers and sisters who wear it on their skin everyday. I will remember what that means for them when they apply for jobs, and school. What it means on the trains in the townships and in the workplace.

Lord have mercy on me if I ever wear black and did nothing else to act toward making good the destruction and terrorism wrought on the people of this country. Lord help me turn this keyboard courage into action that costs me more than putting on another colour t-shirt for the day.”

View at Medium.com

Then this one, which really got some people worked up:

Instead of wearing black today, how about celebrating #BlackMonday by paying the person who cleans your house, looks after your children and takes care of your garden a living wage?

The theme of workedupness was largely on a scale of, “Duh, I do that buddy. Stop judging me!” which really highlights an interesting point in all this and one which my friend Megan keeps reminding me of: THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME!

Specifically on the race stuff, but even in terms of the status. If i write a status that says “Wow, i’m really enjoying the sun today!” i don’t expect to get a message from my friend Ian in England saying, “Dude, there is no sun. Stop celebrating. The conditions are horrible.” or one from my friend Kage in Americaland that says, “Dude, it’s night. There isn’t even a sun around right now. What are you on?”

Rather, in my foolishness, i assume that people are aware that i am in Cape Town and am talking about the weather here. In a similar way, i would hope that a status that calls people to pay the people who work for them a living wage is meant for those who are not doing so. Right? Every status is not about you. That feels like an easy one. But i had to explain it a few times.

Simple rule of thumb that helps me keep my sanity when reading a status is following it with the question, ‘Does this apply to me?’ and if the answer is ‘No!’ then moving on and not responding as if it did.

But more broadly than that, we need to stop making this thing about us. Just because race is not an issue for me does not necessarily mean race is not an issue for many other people. How about we let the people race has always been an issue for let us [who it’s rarely if ever eben an issue for] know when we can stop making it about race?

POSTINGS FROM FRIENDS

My friend Amy Benn, shared this:

Something Mpumelelo Brown-Coffee Phungula said on a post on Brett Fish Anderson‘s wall:

“Even with corruption, only a particular type of corruption by a specific category of people seems to bother white people in this country. Collusion, price fixing, etc doesn’t seem to be regarded as corruption.”

I couldn’t agree more, where is our outrage at Whitey Basson being paid R100 million in the space of one month, when his employees earn almost nothing. Where is our outrage at mining companies exploiting workers and moving profits overseas. Where is our outrage at white people paying those who work for them poverty wages.

In the midst of all these happenings, an article i wrote two weeks ago for 1Africa called ‘Conflict: When the bow doesn’t tie so neatly’ was published and so perfect timing. The heart of the article is sitting with discomfort and awkward and tension and differing of opinions rather needing to try to fix things, or wrap them up neatly. Layers upon layers. All of these conversations are always much deeper than they appear on the surface because they hit us all in different contexts at different stages of our life journey and with various factors influencing us all differently. And so taking time to listen and hear and consider that there might be other versions than your own, is such a helpful thing. South Africa needs a whole lot more of this.

Then my friend Ayanda was in the house and by now [i was back from my walk] i felt the need, having engaged in a number of conversations on different threads by now, to give a bit of a preface in the hope that someone would take it seriously:

Before your “but” kicks in, at least hear. Try and read and imagine what the person writing is trying to say, why they might have written, what their experience is, what the experiences they are speaking of are. Try and really hear and try and understand those things. Too many of us get defensive and our “buts” kick in the moment we think someone is trying to make us feel bad… No, just try and really hear and digest and maybe wait the recommended two hours before swimming in a less thought out response:

“The state of impoverished black South Africans was still at stake when black students across the country were protesting for free education and continue to do so . The state of impoverished blacks are still at stake as people in Woodstock fight for their right to be .

Students at the university of Venda right now are striking , I didn’t hear anyone asking that the nation shut down and mourn the death of the Marikana massacre.

And no one can deny the fact that white People in this country only act up when their interests are being threatened. It’s actually the privilege that allows someone to wear black for one day and then move back into the comfort of their high gated houses while black people don’t have the option to unblack themselves.” [Ayanda Nxusani]

Next up was Lovely Nwadeyi – aw man, i have so much time for this lady – who shared this:

Lovelyn Nwadeyi

I will not wear black today because:

1. I wear black everyday

2. My skin, my black body will not be an accessory to your convenient ‘protest’.

3. I can be anti-Gupta and anti-Ruperts at the same time so don’t make this about your selective accountability and selective outrage

4. I am concerned about the yardstick for justice on this country. Do we only rally for justice when it affects one person or when it affects all? Surely justice is about ‘even the least of these’?

5. Marikana, FeesMustFall, Academic Exclusion, Historical Debt, Taxi Rape, ZilleColonialism, SpurGate, Whitewashed churches, Lack of Sanitation in Townships, Esidimeni, Unaffordable Gentrified Housing is not enough to get you out on the street but heaven forbid your wealth is affected.

6. Zuma is a problem but he is not THE problem.

7. Somewhere in South Africa today, a black woman ironed a white baas black suit and white madame’s black dress for your crappy #BlackMonday.

Miss me!
No thanks, bye!

And the p.s. of the day was this response i saw on someone’s page:

Just saw this one someone’s wall: I’m wearing a black top……..that’s enough for me.

i am going to go make coffee now and do some dishes cos personally i feel like that sums up a lot, but what do YOU think.

Discuss.

i don’t know this particular person or their intention with the comment and so i am not judging them. But for me it was the illumination of a large measure of white south african response to these kinds of things. Similar to during #FeesMustFall when instead of engaging with the students and trying to understand and hear the pain and be part of something profound, there were a number of largely white people who held their own protest on the side… but the idea that i got out of that comment is, ‘I feel moved to do something and it’s Black Monday so I am going to show solidarity by wearing black. But um, I only feel like wearing a black top so I will do that.’

Again, that might not be what she is saying, but taking people’s comments and responses and the roar that is happening on Black Twitter, it smacks of the idea of protesting in a way that is comfortable and cost-free and fits in with my schedule and then tomorrow heading back to life as normal.

Whereas there are so many people for whom tomorrow there is no easy-jump-back-into-comfortable-life.

Which is the point.

A lot of stuff here. What has jumped out for you with this whole #BlackMonday conversation? If you mostly agree with me, what is one thing you disagree with or think i am missing? If you mostly disagree with me, what is one thing you think i got spot on or has some merit? The edge of what is comfortable to us is quite possibly where we are going to learn the most. 

And i do a quick jump back on to #BlackMonday Twitterer to see if there are any parting words:

White people: Our time of reckoning is here. is an insult to black people who have never enjoy your support and “unity.” Ponder []

The rejection of doesn’t mean support of Zuma’s actions. The two can be mutually exclusive believe it or not. []

A takeaway from this ‘mobilisation’ is that middle class need first participate in before they lead mass protest action []

They want us to block highways only when it suits them, on other occasions we are hooligans  []

Black people wear their skin everyday , white people wear black and then go back to their comfort after today  []

Critical thinking does not mean being anti South Africa [i’m not!] or anti unity [again, definitely not], but it does mean i am pro significant change and so we have to keep asking and challenging and listening and pushing back against and jumping in and then deciding with our time, possessions, money and energy… to act and live and be different.

Come on South Africa. We can do this!

[For my Follow-up thoughts on #BlackMonday as well as some helpful ideas on practical things to engage in, click here]

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