Race is one of the big issues we are dealing with in South Africa [and in Americaland, and most probably in pretty much every other country in the world, right?] and there is still a lot of work to be done. The idea of this series came from my understanding that most of us have some kind of racism or prejudice towards other people, particularly those of other cultures or race - some are quite overt [...]
This morning i went to hang out and church with the friendly people at Common Ground Wynberg. i have visited them a bunch of times since coming back from americaland because they have a vibe i really enjoy: very diverse congregation, black pastor [who i really like], some people i know and a whole bunch i don't, and usually just an exciting lifeness happening with children movement and French translations and people who move as they sing, [...]
My friend, Rebecca, who has written before on my blog - a message to South Africa over here, and about her journey with dyslexia over here - wrote this as a status update the other day: Dear racist old man on the Pavilion escalator. I'm sorry you smashed your phone screen and that it's going to cost you R4000 to fix. But you don't have to call the salesman you talked to that [insert derogatory name] [...]
My friend Dre [actually Andrea Thorpe] has been commenting at various places in the 'What about Bob?' conversation and so i asked her if she'd be up to sharing some thoughts of her own... [I’m a white, English-speaking South African. I was born in the Eastern Cape in the ‘80s. I studied Journalism and Media Studies and English at Rhodes University, and later completed my Masters in English at Stellenbosch. I’m now roughly halfway through [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Here are simply a collection of stories from people who have lived in countries or areas of diversity and have a race theme to a part of their story which they have so graciously decided to share with us: Meet Deborah Dowlath [Trinidad and Tobago] Meet Kevin Lloyd James Lok [South Africa] Meet Caley Daniels [South Africa] Meet Susan Hayden [reblog of 'Disco Pants & a Mountain' post]
What makes a person? What makes me, me? For me I’ve struggled with identity for my entire Life – one of the biggest struggles I’ve had over my identity is the one over ‘race’ (now many would consider it strange for a white guy to struggle with identity over race and don’t get me wrong – I’ve never thought I am not white) the reasons being that I was brought up (My mom assisted [...]