Every important thing has been said particularly by Tsholofelo Mpuru! You nailed it girl. I don’t even know why I am writing but Brett asked and I said yes. This is my pet hate. A lot of white people may not be guilty of this. I hope. I mentioned to a Zimbabwean friend of mine this month just how much I absolutely detest being asked whether I am Zimbabwean by a white South African or [...]
"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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
How do you judge good character? As i have been thinking about the idea of 'Character' and 'A person of good character' it seems to be a bit subjective or elusive in terms of definition. One of the dictionary definitions Uncle Google came up with was 'the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.' But the problem with that definition is that it uses the word moral [which in itself, these days, seems to be [...]
It started with a #neknomination [well, let's be honest - it likely started with a drunk Australian feeling like this was something he thought was a good idea for more people to do?] an online video'd drinking challenge game where you "film themselves drinking a pint of an alcoholic beverage, usually beer, in one gulp and upload the footage to the web" [wikipedia] and then nominate two other people to do the same, paying it [...]
no, i don't have children. and neither does Anne Marie Miller actually. but when i read this piece she wrote the other day [that went completely viral and totally shut down her website, i need that it needed to be shared as clearly did everyone else... but reading her next three pieces [which are linked at the end of this] i would just recommend adding Anne's blog to your blog reader list as she clearly [...]
I remember the first article I was invited to write for Truth magazine back in the day had the title, "How far is too far?" so I wrote, "Belgium. Belgium is too far!" and then proceeded to write the rest of my article [for some reason, they let me stay.] And the main point of the article was that if we are asking 'How far is too far?' then we are already in trouble because [...]
Another week means another round-up of the blog posts that inhabited my other blog, 'The Weekly Mash [and Peace!]' and the chance to catch up with any of them you may have missed out on:Monday was a combination of funny mixed with satire in the area of social justice as we got to see a video of the non-profit organisation whose mission is to get a blender into the hand of every African.Tuesday was a [...]