Blog : Brett Fish

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear – meet Mhlengi Mpungose

"I did not benefit from apartheid, therefore why should I be held liable" # this is just one heck of a common statement that I hear from a lot of my white friends and I find it unwarranted because it lacks intellectual credibility, empathy, responsiveness and a sense of self awareness - "white privilege" is the damn elephant in the room -# as a black man I'm always an immediate suspect, thanks to this stereotype caricature that [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-13T22:02:19+02:00April 13th, 2014|challenging thorts, pain and Hope, people, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

solving all the problems of the world

so i got a little silly today and i can't even remember why - someone's #firstworldproblems hashtag triggered a Will Smith response version... which then became a 'being spun in a huge circle by someone really strong' version and of course a 'surfing in the ocean when the first wave arrives' one... 8 attempts later and i had a bit of a list... what world problems did you experience today? After Earth, Wild Wild West, [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-12T16:30:55+02:00April 12th, 2014|activities, humour'ish, silly things|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What makes me me – Meet Deborah Dowlath

The country where I was born. The ethnic composition of my parents. My gender. What do these things have in common? None of them are sufficient to describe who I am. As human beings, made in God’s image and likeness, we consist of body, soul and spirit. Being a Trinidadian born female whose parents have Indian, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish and Caucasian ancestors are all factors which impact my body, but not my soul and spirit, [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-12T12:23:15+02:00April 12th, 2014|change the world, inspire-ations, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear: Meet Tsholofelo Mpuru [part ii]

my friend Tsholo had a bit of a p.s. to her first share on racism and i felt like it warranted a post of its own so it didn't get lost - this is a 47 minute video but i encourage you to make some time and watch it because it is so powerful. i am a little scared that the choir will get it and everyone else will make excuses so try and watch [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-11T20:12:12+02:00April 11th, 2014|shtupidt people, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

40ish Days of Lent: Day 36-38

DAYS 36-38 i know, i know, you got me on this one - definitely bitten off more than i can chew... so another weekend Lent Observance to give me a chance to breathe in deeply and spend some more time reflecting than simply writing about reflecting - also i have two preaches on Sunday so it's a bit of a crazy busy weekend... and we're about to run out of 40ish days of Lent but [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-11T14:50:57+02:00April 11th, 2014|activities, bible things, inspire-ations, what i am reading|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race

i wasn't originally thinking of this as a Taboo Topic topic. but then when i started looking on the book of faces for people to write for me and had friends using terms like 'can of worms' and 'Pandora's Box' to describe what i was suggesting, it made me wonder if that is not exactly where it needs to go. is no one speaking about this? having lived in Americaland for the last three years [in diverse and mixed [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-11T07:30:02+02:00April 11th, 2014|Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|49 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear: Meet Tsholofelo Mpuru [part i]

This is perhaps too long, but I've just been given a platform to vent out years and years worth of frustrations and I'm jumping in head first. But before I begin, let me say that I have way too many white friends to think that white people as a whole are racist, and I don't know if all of what I'm about to say applies to my friends cos I think (or hope) my friends [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-11T07:07:06+02:00April 11th, 2014|challenging thorts, change the world, friends and enemas, inspire-ations, pain and Hope, people, thorts of other people|22 Comments

40ish Days of Lent: Day 35

DAY 35 John 11.35 is often quoted as the shortest verse in the Bible - 'Jesus wept' - but in actual fact that honour should really go to Job 3.2 which simply states, 'He said' [less strokes on a keyboard!] However, 'He said' is a lot less interesting. Task: Take some time to consider this story where Jesus is moved to tears. Take some time today to express some grief for something. It might be [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-10T13:23:48+02:00April 10th, 2014|activities, bible things, inspire-ations|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear: Meet Sarona Reddy

At first I was reluctant to write about this, because it can open up a whole can of worms or feels like kicking a sleeping dog… But if it’s going to help build relationships across the grey areas of race – then so be it. Firstly, I speak to white people who generalise and stereotype people of colour. I myself, had to challenge myself to see beyond colour and actually get to know people for [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-10T07:34:05+02:00April 10th, 2014|challenging thorts, change the world, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear

i don't know if this is the right place to begin this conversation on race, but it is a place and so will hopefully get the ball rolling and then we can see where it goes from there. i think we would be foolish to believe that this conversation will be easy or comfortable all the way through - i am hoping we will be able to get to a place where people can be [...]