My name is Brett "Fish" Anderson and i am 46 years and for the last 6 years i have been actively fighting against racism. Although people at times accuse me - and people like me - of being smug or self-righteous or feeling superior - i don't think i am any of those things. To be honest, i feel shame and embarrassment. i have for the longest time been someone who has challenged the [...]
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 [...]
Fiercely Kind? What an interesting concept... i saw this on the social medias this week and absolutely fell in love. Keep me Fiercely Kind! That line jumps out at you! Ooh, i love that. Who would have thought to put the words 'fierce' and 'kind' together in a way that somehow mysteriously carries so much power? [Edit: i have since found out it was Laura Jean Truman who came up with this @LauraJeanTruman] [...]
One of the absolute highlights of the recent Justice Conference in South Africa was the worship. Now Val and i learned from our wedding that sometimes amazing musical experiences don't translate on to video. The opening djembe arrival of the bride at our wedding is one of the most powerful musical moments of my life as first one then two, then five, then twenty djembes joined in to create a pulsating rhythm and a [...]
Dear Church [and in my brain i'm thinking church of Cape Town, but this really is good stuff for the church at large to hear], i have a deep love for you and a desire for you to be everything you were made to be. But it is a lot of love-hate relationship cos man, you confound me so much sometimes. Especially on the man bit. But i had a dream about you last night [...]
Another day, another person calling a grown man who works in your garden 'boy' - these racists are everywhere, right? Except this time it wasn't a racist. And in fact, it came in the context of a social justice looking-out-for-people-of-colour post [because let's face it, i have still to experience a white domestic worker in this country, although i'm sure your friend knows of one] in the form of a Facebook status: Seeking justice for [...]
My wife tbV [aka The Beautiful Val] has spent most of the last year pulling together the first Justice Conference in South Africa. This week's game coincided with the conference so i decided to use the theme for a really positive game. And you all played along... [The Story So Far: Every Wednesday at 12 noon South African time [6am EDT] an inspired and growing number of brilliant, creative and absolutely fun people from all around [...]
South Africa, how are we doing? How is Justice being fought for this week? It's been a week since a bunch of you wore black in protest. It's been a couple of days since a bunch of you marched, a bunch of you didn't march, some of you held hands in a chain [or if reports are correct, went to go and hold hands in a chain and didn't hold hands in a chain, but [...]
i have a tablet bible application called You Version where i am busy slowly working through the book of Isaiah [three chapters a day when i get to it] and today was Isaiah 58 which i absolutely love and i find this a helpful checklist for people who say they follow Jesus... This is just part of it: 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and [...]
These are some of the recent posts that i and others have made to hopefully challenge and encourage and educate you as you try and figure out how to do life better in South Africa. Please feel free to share any of these posts that are helpful with people you think it might help to take one more step towards... All Lives Smatter - a collection of thoughts about race, painting all people with the [...]
