i saw this picture and statement on Facebook today: Count me out. I need a break from South African politics and leadership dynamics. The poverty I have seen today visiting a rural area has me in a minor depression, I cant imagine WHEN the leaders will stop shielding and blaming each other and start serving this country. I DON'T want to be right, I don't want the other side to be wrong. I just [...]
So recently i finished reading the book, 'Biko: A Biography' by Xolela Mangcu It is not often that you get to hang out with the guy who authored the book you are reading [unless you have bought my book, 'i, church' and then hang out with me over an ice cold board game, of course] but this is how that happened. tbV and i had been invited to a friend's house for a meal and [...]
Continuing the ‘Race with Me’ video series i take a look at one thing that has been super helpful for me in terms of learning and growing and becoming better prepared for conversations about race and knowing that changes i need to make in my own life. If you have asked the question, “What can I do?’ in terms of race vibes, this is a very good place to start. For more [...]
If this last week was the first time you ever did anything in terms of protest then THAT IS AMAZING. Well done. Good for you. That's really great. At the same time it is very possible that it also sucks that it took you so long. i fall into that category. For the last two and a half years i have been going on about this stuff in terms of writing and engaging with people [...]
"When I came back from overseas, the road I had grown up on had been changed to Robert Sobukwe drive. That is all I knew of him." One of the comments after the Robert Sobukwe documentary 60 to 80 of us watched together last night in a cafe called Jou Ma Se Kombuis situated on the edge of Manenberg. i was not oblivious to the fact that the majority of people in the room [although [...]
i love to read. i was challenged a couple of years ago by the idea of diversifying the voices that i invited to speak into my life. For me that related mostly to books as i don’t tend to find the time slash bandwidth to do much podcast listening, but it would apply to both. […]
A lot of people complain about South Africa or just feel completely overwhelmed by stories [and experiences] of crime or corruption and more. There is good reason for a lot of that, but if you aren’t planning on leaving the country, then it makes a lot more sense to be a part of the change. In Part I, we looked at five practical ways at which we can genuinely get involved in seeing change in [...]
My friend Nkosi has written for me a number of times on this blog and so it was a great privilege to have him around for a special meal on Friday night with some friends, that i wrote about over here, and i asked him to share some of his impressions from the evening: Conversation is an integral part of transformation. It was for this reason that I went to Brett's house together with Monde [...]
This is the last passage i will be sharing from the book, 'Robert Sobukwe: How Can Man Die Better' [because you do need to go and get a copy and read the whole thing, you know!] And this is a look forward to how Sobukwe might have felt about the current situation with a big focus on justice and what i think lies ahead of us in terms of a move from racial focus to [...]
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 [...]
