If I stay out in the sun long enough Can the red hide the pain of past injustices? If I poke my head over an electrified walled property on the slopes of Camps Bay Will the green be enough to disguise my own wealth I struggle to even keep track of? If I host a sad movie marathon with tales of war, missed out romance and dying people Might the blue cover over my own [...]
If you are looking for someone who actively supported apartheid You will always be faced with a quiet room The sudden hush of the crickets who rapidly flick their eyes around the room Desperately hoping somebody else will claim responsibility for that one For a new nation to be born out of the ashes of the old one Something needed to die Systems, structures, attitudes and behaviours… “Even words?” The fifty-eight year old [...]
So #BlackMonday was a thing. And wasn't, depending on who you were. And was accidentally so for tbV and others who just happened to realise into the day that they had unintentionally worn black. For me it had to be a lot more intentionally as probably eighty percent of my shirts are black. So i wore my blue 'Peace to the world' shirt which felt somewhat appropriate. What i found interesting when looking on my [...]
What does it mean to worship as a South African? As an African? Is there any difference to worshipping in any other place in the world? We do tend to import our worship songs from Americaland [Bethel, Jesus Culture], the United Kingdom [Redman, Tomlin, Hughes] and Australia [Hillsongs, Planetshakers] and if worship is just worship then that should be fine, right? i posed this question and questions like it in this Facebook Live video that [...]
Make South Africa great? When Donald Trump runs a campaign with the slogan, "Make Americaland great again!" a large majority of white Americans cheer, because they have grown up with the notion that America is the greatest country on earth and with crime and unemployment and some other issues on the rise, we clearly just need to get it back to where it was. Black America is not so sure. "Great again" like when Jim [...]
What do we do with anger on the internet? It's five days later and i have found writing part II of this anger piece pretty difficult. Part I dealt with Jesus and His take on anger and violence which was, in essence, a book study, and so pretty straightforward - this is what i read, this is how i interpret it... while now we are talking about people and a thousand of them so different [...]
i received an email from a friend of mine on Facebook who is asking some questions that relate quite strongly to some stuff i have been giving a lot of thought to, especially this last week. i think it's a bit of a minefield, to be honest. But i also think it's high time we stepped into this one: Morning 😊 I've been thinking about ANGER and VIOLENCE. I think that so many people dismiss [...]
Jacob Zuma is still the president. Not too many surprises there i don't think, although the 21 vote margin may have been a lot closer than many people suspected. But it certainly was no Brexit or Trump sideswipe [maybe we're saving that for 2019!] and the result of the vote of no confidence certainly revealed some things. While we try to figure out what that means and doesn't mean, here is a repeat of yesterday's [...]
When i hear the words 'secret ballot' i immediately change them to 'secret ballet' and feel like there is some kind of underground mysterious quite-possibly-Russian dance extravaganza happening that i wasn't invited to. And will there or won't there be need for the traditional tutu? But then i hear that it's a No confidence vote in the president, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma and i instantly realise that his middle name is a lot more creative than mine, [...]
i first heard the term 'the better black' from a friend of mine who i am hoping will share a bit of her story for this series at some stage. It was shared in the context of her being part of a church congregation that looked very diverse on the outside but where she felt pressure to look and behave in ways acceptable to white people so as to fit in. Phrases like; "You speak [...]
