i received two sets of comments after the last post in this series and felt that both were worth sharing. The first was from Sabrina and was really helpful in reminding me that racism can be localised. One strong example we came against when we were in the States is that the term 'coloured' there when referring to a person of colour, is very strongly racist, whereas in South Africa, for the most part, it [...]
Another passage from the chapter titled 'Some African Cultural Concepts': 'Yet it is difficult to kill the African heritage. There remains, in spite of the superficial cultural similarities between the detribalised and the Westerner, a number of cultural characteristics that mark out the detribalised as an African. I am not here making a case for separation on the basis of cultural differences. I am sufficiently proud to believe that under a normal situation, Africans can [...]
i am still slowly making my way through Steve Biko's 'I write what I like' and here is a passage that i marked a while ago from Chapter 8: Some African Cultural Concepts: One of the most fundamental aspects of our culture is the importance we attach to Man [by which i think he is referring to people as opposed to individual - brett] . Ours has always been a Man-centered society. Westerners have on [...]
My friend, Megan Furniss had these questions to help us get thinking and self-examining on this... If you are worried that you might be a little bit racist there are a few things you can do to check: # Do you have a natural (and unreasonable) expectation that everyone should be able to communicate with you in English? # Do you get irritated with Africa Time, because you haven’t taken public transport in a while [...]
The other day i was on the bus coming back from camp chatting to someone and they spoke a line that sends electricity through my body [and not in a good way]. i think we were talking about my blog and the other person said something about, 'Giving them a voice.' i can never ever give anyone else a voice. i can recognise and acknowledge and make space for and step out of the way [...]
It has been so great being back in Americaland for a month for a number of reasons. One of those has been finding the opportunity to watch the first Peter Capaldi season of Doctor Who, which i finally finished last night. He can stay. As with the other doctors it felt like it took him a little bit of time to find his feet but i think he has now and so am very much [...]
i just read a really helpful piece by Brene Brown titled, 'Own our History. Change the story' which is focused on Americaland which has what feels like a completely different story, when it comes to present race issues, in many ways, but also some remarkably similar overlaps. Owning our stories is standing in our truth. It’s transformative in our personal and professional lives AND it’s also critical in our community lives. But we don’t think about history [...]
So last night a group of CEO's got together in Johannesburg for the 702 Sun International CEO Sleepout which took place in Sandton [absolutely no irony there]. As i am in Americaland at the moment i only knew about it from the Twitterer and then was only able to get glimpses of what was happening from the same medium. In some ways it seemed like a good idea - i heard about R24 million being [...]
We are angry. We grieve, mourn, weep. But we also choose to remember these dear sisters and brothers. Rest in peace. Cynthia Hurd [54] Tywanza Sanders [26] Sharonda Singleton [45] Myra Thompson [59] Ethel Lance [70] Susie Jackson [87] DePayne Doctor [49] Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr [74] Rev. Clementa Pinckney [41] [From Eugene Cho, who is a man i greatly respect and admire: @EugeneCho] i think it is strongly significant to start a conversation about the [...]
When tbV [the beautiful Val] and i were living in Oakland about a year ago, we came across a book titled ‘Free’ by a friend of ours we had met over here, Mark Scandrette. The tagline of the book is ‘Spending your Time and Money on What Matters Most’ and that really does sum up the book. We decided to gather some people together and work through the book over an eight week period. [...]