i came across this article, '21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On A Daily Basis', posted by Heben Nigatu on Buzzfeed, made me unbelievably sad, and in the context of the conversations we are having at Irresistibly Fish, felt like something worth adding in here so that some more people will hopefully have that 'Oh' moment of getting this a little bit more. 'The term “microaggression” was used by Columbia professor Derald Sue to refer to [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
For some of you this will be a "best, most moving story I ever read, must forward to 100 friends" whereas for others, halfway through the first line will have you rolling your eyes and going, "Oh, one of those" if you are the former, enjoy the story, it's an inspiring story... if you are the latter, jump down to the bottom and see the point i am trying to make about it, it's a [...]
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 [...]
DAY 8 Woke up to some really bad news this morning. A close friend had suffered one of the hugest losses imaginable. Task: Weep with someone who is weeping. If you don't know someone personally that is weeping, then pick up a newspaper or go and visit a website, because there is enough corporate weeping going on that you can join - the families and friends of the missing airplanes, the people in the various [...]
this is something i've been contemplating for a while and i'd love to hear your thoughts on it. as i've been collecting stories for the two popular series i am running on my blog at the moment, namely, 'Marriage through the Years' [stories, struggles and advice from a variety of people who have been married for a differing number of years] and 'What my Single Friends would like their Married Friends to know', one thing keeps [...]
Another week, another 'The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] - see what's been happening this week on the other side of my blog garage... Monday saw some Buttersafe cartoonage depicting the ridiculousness of chess pieces and the trap of the workplace Tuesday saw us take a look at the boy who couldn't be buried, the incoming plague and the no celebration relay team orders Wednesday saw some more cartoons with a simple yet powerful contrasting of [...]