One of the interesting ideas that has come up both in Americaland [with the whole #Ferguson ordeal and everything connected to that and the #BlackLivesMatter movement] and in South Africa is that black people can't be racist. i have always argued that the hypothesis is ridiculous and given my understanding of racism, anyone can be racist against another person. However, by taking time to listen to people on both sides, as far as i understand [...]
You know, the whole, 'Before you criticise someone, walk a mile in their shoes' thing? Following on from the post and conversation relating to inequality at the moment still being a race thing in South Africa, what might be a helpful activity is to take a look at how you understand the other person's argument. Are you able to jump into the comments and comment from the point of view of the person on the [...]
From Worst Christian Book covers of 2014 to how to respond to Trolls or other people online you disagree strongly with, to a whole bunch of really helpful, insightful and great articles on race-related things and some reflections on our time at Robben Island, this has been another crazy week of much to read, watch and ingest, and i would hate for you to miss any of it and so i have compiled this Don't-Miss-Out [...]
oh wow, what to leave out this week... there has been a lot of goodness and just importance flying around the internet... i don't expect you to read all these things but at the very least, please scroll down and pick one thing you missed and then if you enjoy it please SHARE it with your social media people - some important stuff to get eyes on this week: MOST INSPIRING: Abundance > Scarcity: As the [...]
This morning i was browsing Facebook and i came upon a status from my friend Nkosivumile Gola [who has written a number of posts for this blog] that read like this: The land question is very personal, the land includes my whole being it is the very me. The land question is very emotional its not an intellectual talk. I don't have a nice way of saying we want the land, I can't smile when [...]
i read this blog post by Austin Channing on Black on Black violence in which she stated, Racism is White-on-Black violence. In 1619, the first twenty Africans were brought over as labor for the new colonies. Within one generation the white majority had defined black people as permanent slaves and non-human property. This created a social order in which black people were only valuable for their ability to support a white dominated society that was economically [...]
After last week's fairly quiet week on the internet, this week seems to be right back up there with issues or race and transformation taking centre stage, with a sweet injection of Christmas in between. Here are the blog posts, links and stories that have been catching my attention this week - which one was yours? MOST EXCITING My friend Dalene Reyburn finally launched her book, 'Dragons and Dirt: The Truth about changing the world [...]
A lot of people, yes white ones [like me], switch off when we hear the term 'white privilege' [please don't!] Some people, yes white ones, get angry when we hear the term 'white privilege' [please don't!] But i sometimes wonder if it is because of a misunderstanding of what people who talk about 'white privilege' mean when they do so. So please take a deep breath and try and approach this piece with fresh eyes [forget [...]