Taboo Topics : Brett Fish

Taboo Topics: Race – Mixed Race Connections – Meet James Davis and Sherrell Nesmith

American-African meets African-American. We met at university; both of us were on student leadership for our respective halls. Sherrell’s from Durham, NC. James is from Cape Town, South Africa (Well, mostly). Naturally, there are a lot of cultural differences we’ve discovered along the way. For starters, we have different likes and dislikes, some of them diametrically opposite each other, ranging from the superficial, like our tastes in music and to how we like to [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-07T05:56:31+02:00May 7th, 2014|love and chocolate, people, relationships, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – Mixed Race Connections – Meet Beth Lee Jooste and Ockerd Ojay Langeveldt [Engaged]

Hi brett. I saw you put up a request for inter- racial relationship stories: here's a bit of mine: in 150 days i'm marrying my best friend and the love of my life. He is coloured and i'm white and we are the best for each other. When I look at him I don't see my culture or his - I see two people working out life with a different approach and mentality... this goes [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-01T19:14:55+02:00May 1st, 2014|love and chocolate, people, relationships, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – Some thoughts from the Internet – on White Privilege and Post-Racial America

Let's crank this thing up a notch. Two articles that have caught my attention recently [Thankx Tsholofelo for the first one] and have a lot to say in this Race conversation that we've started and are engaging with each other on [although am still hoping to see more of that]. These feel like they could be part of the 'can of worms' and 'Pandora's Box' i was promised [threatened with?] when i said that i [...]

By brettfish|2016-02-25T11:17:20+02:00April 22nd, 2014|challenging thorts, pain and Hope, people, shtupidt people, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear – Meet Tasha Melissa Govender

Having a read through a post on this blog and having a little chat about it on Facebook, I got offered a chance to offer my opinion. And since I love talking, not race relations, but people relations I really couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Please know that the little irks below are meant to help and enhance not bring down or hurt. So dearest non-melanin-having folk, here are a few little tips to help [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-20T22:11:47+02:00April 20th, 2014|challenging thorts, 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 Tshego Motiang

When this topic first came up, I chose not to get involved because I knew the controversy it would cause. People on all sides are generally exceptionally sensitive when it come to the topic of race. We can never just talk about our differences without an argument ensuing. Someone always has to overact out of offense and someone else will always have to pay by taking the blame. The conversation is almost not worth having [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-16T22:12:19+02:00April 16th, 2014|challenging thorts, change the world, inspire-ations, people, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – The power of words…

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 [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-16T17:35:45+02:00April 16th, 2014|change the world, pain and Hope, people, shtupidt people, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

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

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 [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-15T21:54:06+02:00April 15th, 2014|challenging thorts, pain and Hope, people, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|8 Comments

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

Where on earth do I even start with this topic? “What I want my white friends to know” seems like such a direct attack to some of my closest friends and those who I am still to meet. I absolutely love my friends so how could I write this? Then I thought about how much I really want to say some things and I sat down to type this. First of all I come [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-14T23:21:34+02:00April 14th, 2014|friends and enemas, pain and Hope, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

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

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