Anti-racism work with friends beats anti-racism work by yourself. 

Since returning from America with the absolute determination to confront my own racism and try to make a difference in South Africa this work really has been a key factor in my life. And Megan Choritz has been one of my friends who has helped really shape my thinking and understanding and doing. Part of that makes a lot of sense as she has been doing it for a lot longer than me.

More recently i have become friends with two amazing women, Asanda Ngoasheng and Hani du Toit, who have been super gracious and generous both in teaching me so much from the other side as it were, but also by inviting me into different spaces where we can do the work together. And it is always such a joy and pleasure.

White people confronting whiteness

For most of lockdown, Megan and i started having Monday live conversations around different aspects of Whiteness and it was amazing to see that hundreds of people either tuned in or watched the videos later. They became richer conversations when people jumped in with comments and questions and it became more of a community conversation. This was an invitation particularly for white people to engage with some of the issues of racism – both overt and subtle – that pervade different aspects of our lives. Sometimes speaking to general issues and at other times dealing with stories that had just come up in the news. If you’re up for a scroll you might find most of those on my Irresistibly Fish page on Facebook.

Confronting Whiteness

Community engagement around whiteness

Then at the end of last year, Asanda and Hani joined us for a bumper edition of Confronting Whiteness which is well worth a watch.

And we got to start this year’s conversations with the very same group of friends over here. This conversation was particularly challenging and i felt like i learned so much, particularly from Asanda.

So, if you haven’t yet watched either of those, or both of them, make some time and give them a watch. Better yet, tag some friends and watch together and have a feedback check-in afterwards. For white people who are really trying to understand and learn and do the work, these spaces feel like an absolute gift and especially with people of colour choosing to use their time to educate white people who really need to do more of the work ourselves.

We have decided that as the four of us we want to be having these conversations more regularly and so follow or add any one of us [or better yet – all of us!] on Facebook to see when the next one will be happening.

You can engage with Asanda over here and on her website.

You can connect with Hani over here and on her website.

Link up with Megan over here or on her blog.

And most of you i imagine might be connected to me on Facebook or on my blog or on my Instagram @BrettFishA

Asanda and Hani both officially work in spaces of coaching and team-building and race work and both Megan and i are available to work with white groups on whiteness and in other spaces with Improv or story-telling. So connect with us and pay us to come and help your group to deal with whatever issues you might be facing in those areas.

i am committed to a life of anti-racism and it is a privilege and pleasure to have such wise and strong and incredible women leading the way for me to do the work both in myself and with the people, places, systems and structures around me.

Let’s keep on! There is so much still to be done.

Also, i am busy compiling 50 videos of Ideas for white people who are asking: But what can I do? and the first 30 or so of these are available on my YouTube channel over here. Get watching and sharing and doing…