'White Fragility' by Robin DiAngelo has been one of the most helpful books i have read on the subject of race and racism. It has helped put some language on some concepts i was aware of and it has shared some useful analogies that break down complex issues into much simpler ideas. i highly recommend you get a copy and give it a read if you are trying to navigate these race waters and [...]
i have just started reading Robin DiAngelo's 'White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism' and am already in love. You should basically just go and buy the book. [Got it for R200 on Loot] It is that good. Am only part way in and already feels like such a game changer both in terms of the language it uses [and some helpful analogy already] and the ways in [...]
#ButWhatCanIDo? Tip #36 We can be a little kinder to each other. Now this works as a tip and life lesson in general and the world would be a better place if most of us adhered to it, but specifically here i am thinking about white people on the journey away from racism to other white people on the same journey. 'When we forget that before us is first a person and then an opinion [...]
We are heading towards the halfway point of this 40 tips for white people who are genuinely asking, 'But what can I do?' series and continuing with: #ButWhatCanIDo? Tip #16 This is an extension of yesterday's tip and is going to be another difficult one for anyone not committed to the work of transformation to hear and put into practice. And I'm not sure how often I even get this right or mess it up [...]
White South African friends… i have so much love for you. A number of you, when race conversations have been happening, have asked the question, “What can i do?” and as one who doesn’t have all the answers but certainly has some of the journey, i figured I can share some things that helped me to move further along in this conversation. So for the next forty days, i am hoping to share an idea a day – some simple, some more [...]
i absolutely love the people in and around my life. It really does feel like a gift and on top of any male or white or anything else privilege that i recognise and acknowledge, the privilege of quality people is one i am most grateful for. The other night a new friend Mzi was visiting Cape Town from Joburg and we got to have dinner with him and spend an evening just chatting and reflecting [...]
Trevor and i have not done a Tandem Blog post for a while and so we decided to jump right into this topic of The White Saviour Complex with the rules being five comments per person at around 100 words back and forth until we have a conversation to share. You can see this and more on Trevor's Swart Donkey blog over here (1/10) Trev: Brett, you and I both come from incredibly similar backgrounds. [...]
I am whiteness I will not condescend to your infuriating attempts to single me out as the single biggest cause of all your problems I am whiteness You had better believe that everything I have is due to hard work and persistence After all, the silver spoon in my mouth that I was born with had ugly flecks of bronze all over its handle Who in their right mind would be satisfied with that? [...]
i have just finished reading 'The Housemaid's Daughter' by Barbara Mutch which i pretty much sped through [thanks to some exam invigilating giving me free paid-for reading time] and having just finished 'Half of a Yellow Sun' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie it was a very different read. But it really did suck me in through the strong relationships it depicted in particular. It basically tells the story of the friendship between an Irish woman, Cathleen [...]
This past week i was contacted by a Facebook friend who told me he had been following me since my Truth mag days [an amazing magazine i used to write for]. Which was a long, long time ago in a galaxy much like ours. Him and his wife have been out of the country for three years [dejavu] and have returned and are living in Cape Town and trying to educate themselves around topics of [...]
