The Colourblind argument seems to be a confusing one for many people. White people, trying to do the right thing, often hold on to the statement: I don't see colour. While completely believing it. i would like to approach that from a different direction than i have before, which might make it easier for some of you to get. Many of my best friends are black, coloured and indian people. And no, that's not [...]
This has been a week of two stories when it comes to the homeless people of Cape Town or those who tend to live on the streets. Earlier this week i was encouraged and inspired to see testimony from the St Peters microsite that has been created to take care of around ten homeless men during lockdown. Which you can and should read about over here. A number of my friends are involved there [...]
Does the term 'anti-racist' sit well with you? i admit that any term that defines someone as something they're not or something they're against feels unwieldy to me. This is why i come out so strongly against the term 'non-white'. It puts white people in the middle as the norm or accepted or perfect thing and then distances anyone who is called non-white away from that. As if whiteness is normal or right or [...]
How much money is too much money? While the question is always going to be somewhat relative, i feel like sometimes it's quite an easy one to answer. When i saw this list of bank boss salaries yesterday it made me super sad and angry. While not all that surprised. This representation along [that i discovered comes from this article on the BusinessTech website] could be this whole blog post. It says more than [...]
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation last night. As he did - and this is not for the first time - i felt a sense of pride, the feeling of being led, a deep respect for the humility that was shown when he spoke about government miscommunicating and making mistakes, confusing messages, and contradictions. While he spoke, i jumped on to Facebook and simply wrote this: Such humility coming from Cyril Ramaphosa... [...]
i was given an opportunity to visit the Strandfontein site yesterday where around 2000 homeless people are being held. On Good Friday i had written this post about Strandfontein which had gained a fair amount of traction. Based on stories i had heard from people who are very well connected to some of the people who were at the site and also some articles i read and videos i watched. So when a friend [...]
It is Good Friday today. But very much the opposite of that in the Strandfontein sports facility where the homeless have been rounded up and moved. "It is like a concentration camp!" - these are words i just heard from a social worker who has been volunteering in the encampment where tents have been erected and none of the physical distancing that we have all been called to do is happening at all. She [...]
Either/Or vs Both/And What if we replaced the Either/Or way of thinking with something that looked a little more like Both/And? This is a thought that keeps coming back to me as i seek to use online spaces to inspire, challenge, encourage and build bridges between people who don't look like each other. When i speak about justice for black, coloured and indian people i get accused of hating white people. If i speak [...]
What do i mean by a 'Racism Spectrum'? This morning i chatted to four grade 6s about Racism. Don't get me wrong, that's not a regular hobby of mine - "Hey kids, gather round and listen to how awful your ancestors were..." - in fact, this was an amazing opportunity gifted to me by a friend of mine who teaches at their school. Grade sixes were doing a project and four of them chose [...]
Art has caused a big stir this week. The question we need to perhaps ask is: Demonic art or Demonic Heart? when it comes to a Grantleigh Curro school matric pupil's art display... In the light of Artgate, i thought it might be helpful to collate a number of the posts i have shared about this, mostly from friends of mine, to hopefully help us think about the whole thing a little more clearly: [...]
