'I began to understand something quite important about South Africa: My fear of blacks was obscuring my understanding of the fear blacks felt for my white skin.' [Rian Malan, My Traitor's Heart] i am almost finished reading 'My Traitor's Heart' by Rian Malan which was highly recommended to me. The tagline of the book is 'A South African exile returns to face his country, his tribe, and his conscience.' Hm, it's been an interesting book [...]
i attended the Restitution Conference yesterday at the Castle in Cape Town, cos slavery. [And am going back later today for part II] Which in some ways just feels like a thing i did. Oh i went to this thing and stuff happened and people spoke and it was good. Excepting that it wasn't just a thing. It was the first ever Restitution Conference in South Africa. And that something like 21 years after our [...]
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 [...]
If you're never offended, you're probably dead. i remember hearing an excellent preach by my friend Albert, a Korean-American pastor in Americaland, on the subject of intolerance. He suggested that we are all intolerant, but that we choose what to be intolerant towards. If you believe in a clean and appealing neighbourhood or city, then you will rightly be intolerant towards litter. If you believe in the basic human right of living, then you will [...]
You'd hope that being the weekend these University protesters would give it a break. But no, last night they were definitely at it again i had just returned from performing an Improv show as part of the MamaCity Improv Festival [You should totally go by the way - i'm playing again on Monday but they're doing shows all weekend and it is good!] and i was hungry so my wife tbV and two friends and i [...]
i was driving to a university campus to do a Peace Justice Witness shift and listening to the band Bastille on a cd in my car. And the walls kept tumbling down In the city that we love Great clouds roll over the hills Bringing darkness from above And i thought to myself, "Wow, that seems like familiar imagery. i wonder if this is the #FMF theme song?" But if you close your eyes, Does [...]
The other day i asked a simple question in a Race Engagement group i belong to on Facebook, believing it was a safe place. i actually had typed out my question as a status and then decided last second to move it to the group cos it would probably be more appropriate there. The first person who responded made me feel like an idiot for asking the question and challenged my sincerity in asking it. [...]
[Disclaimer: If you're a dog owner, try and read through this entire post without formulating a response - just read to understand and hear - and then let what you've read help inform what your response will be] i watched the most fascinating conversation unfold on Facebook yesterday, related to dog owners. Probably one of the most helpful aspects was this dialogue between two friends of mine, Lesego and Ashley, who started off a little [...]
This is a follow on from yesterday's All Lives Smatter post so if you haven't read that yet, start over there... Some key thoughts from part I: # It would have taken an absolute miracle for someone to grow up in apartheid South Africa and be completely not affected or indoctrinated by racism in some shape or form, hence my resonance with other white people who refer to themselves as Recovering Racist - not because [...]
So let me begin by saying this, "I really LOVE meat!" For the last, wow, must be almost two years?, my wife tbV and i have been doing our best to do a week of normal eating [as in what we're used to, which is not a crazy amount of meat actually] followed by a meat-free week. But we were chatting last night and realised [or confessed] that we don't find it all that easy. [...]
