White people asking the question, 'But what can I do?' when it comes to race and transformation. It has been super exciting to see how much dialogue and engagement has been happening around these tips. If you have not yet read the first five which started this series or the next five then click on those first and bring yourself up to speed. But this post is going to be bringing you the next five tips [...]
White South African friends… i have so much love for you. A number of you, when race conversations have been happening, have asked the question, “What can i do?” and as one who doesn’t have all the answers but certainly has some of the journey, i figured I can share some things that helped me to move further along in this conversation. So for the next forty days, i am hoping to share an idea a day – some simple, some more [...]
White South African friends... i have so much love for you. A number of you, when race conversations have been happening, have asked the question, "What can i do?" and as one who doesn't have all the answers but certainly has some of the journey, i figured I can share some things that helped me to move further along in this conversation. So for the next forty days, i am hoping to share an idea [...]
The other day i tried my hand at a kind of spoken word piece with the title, 'i don't hate my skin' which you can watch over here. But i thought some of you might appreciate having a closer look at the words and here they are. i don't hate my skin - by brett "Fish" anderson I don’t hate my skin. The thought seems quite ridiculous. How could I possibly hate something [...]
I am whiteness I will not condescend to your infuriating attempts to single me out as the single biggest cause of all your problems I am whiteness You had better believe that everything I have is due to hard work and persistence After all, the silver spoon in my mouth that I was born with had ugly flecks of bronze all over its handle Who in their right mind would be satisfied with that? [...]
Can i just start by saying that i absolutely LOVE the [majority of the] community who wrestle with me with aspects of race and privilege and poverty and more on social media. It is probably a wonder that more of you haven't given up on me, but when you stick around and when you push back and when we seriously engage with the topics at hand [and those hiding behind the hand] we learn so [...]
Words i heard last night. Not the kind of thing that feels great coming from someone who has a history of giving you a hard time or trolling you on social media, but something you learn to get over quickly and pull out the thick skin for. "Your very presence is violent." But what if it comes from one of your best friends? And what if you suspect they might be right? [Disclaimer: Now i imagine [...]
i have so-called white skin. i don't hate my skin colour. i hate that it has been elevated above the skin colours of so many other people. i hate that some people see themselves as 'better than' simply based on the accident of their skin colour. When i talk about defeating whiteness that is what i mean. It is not at all about hating the skin i, or people who look like me, have or [...]
Day Zero continues its menacing approach like a menacing Sith Lord approaching with somber orchestral accompaniment in the background... Cape Town readies itself by desperately grabbing hold of any water-catching, water-containing or water-producing containers it can find... And we stand at a dry and dusty crossroads where both paths seem to lead away from any kind of aquatic-heavy future. There has already been a fair amount [...]
The last book i read was the incredible Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which i shared some thoughts about over here, but there were a couple more passages that really stood out to me when i read the book and so here they are. This first extract is another blog post by the main character, Ifemelu: What Academics Mean by White Privilege, or Yes It Sucks to Be Poor and White but Try Being Poor [...]
