i was being driven home from a hockey match yesterday when my mate turned to me and asked me, "How are you feeling about South Africa right now?" The answer is that i am feeling hopeful. In fact a number of people both black and white have been asking me this question recently and that is my honest response. BUT i am not blind or ignorant. i know that there are some really angry black people, [...]
i online-met Thandi via my friend Alexa and she agreed to share some words on the concept of 'The Better Black' which is a heart-breaking idea for me and i hope that by sharing it, we will all be able to take one step closer. i also hope it hits many of you hard in the face, because we need to really start 'getting' these stories more... Thank you Thandi for sharing some of your [...]
Entitlement is a huge problem in South Africa. i would suggest it is more a problem in the white communities because Apartheid was specifically created with that in mind - the elevation of whiteness and superiority. While white people need to wrestle with their entitlement in different areas, a lot of people of colour are still wrestling with the insecurity and inferiority complexes that systems of stamping them into the mud helped put in place. [...]
When you die, what obituary are you hoping to receive? Taking a leaf out of Parks and Rec's Tom Haverford's "Treat Yo'self" day and with inspiration from my wife, tbV [aka The Beautiful Val] we came up with this week's game tag of #ObitYourself and as always everyone came to the party. Super stoked to have Hashtag game legend Lisa Taylor aka @mseric co-hosting with me and she was an amazing co-host: Her Twitterer bio [...]
i just had a brief conversation with a Facebook friend that began with him writing the words, "Knowing what white privilege is..." and then asking a question. Having learnt from some people who are really good at Questions over the last few years, i responded with one of my own: Well i would need to know what you understand when you say that you get what it means to have white privilege - how would [...]
Such as a Twit of Tweeters or a Farce of Facebookers? THIS WEEK WE COMPLETELY DOMINATED! Let's just get that out of the way... Number 1 in the USA, in Canada, in the UK, number two in Australia [only cos World Cup cricket was happening] and finally, the second time making it on to the SA trend charts we went right to the top and went #1 in SA as well. South Africa's Top Trending Hashtagging [...]
It begins with a cartoon posted on Facebook: And before long someone jumping on with a "But Zuma orchestrated the Red Wedding, is responsible for ongoing Adam Sandler movies and killed all the unicorns!" To which I responded with: Racism 101: There is a scenario in which we can comfortably say that Jacob Zuma has not been a great leader in many respects AND also see that there is something in ourselves which needs to [...]
Do you remember where you voted in 1994? Where you were when the twin towers fell on 9/11? How about when we won the 1995 World Cup of Rugby? More importantly, where did you stand in 2016? The year everything changed... We are in the middle of making History. It started picking up pace with Rhodes Must Fall which was followed by Fees Must Fall and either the Anti-Corruption marches or the Zuma Must Fall [...]
My name is brett "Fish" anderson and i am ashamed it took me so long to get here. A BIT OF MY JOURNEY i didn't grow up in a particulary racist family, in fact if anything, my parents taught us to view all people as equal and deserving of love and respect. i was very fortunate during my time at college to be engaged in race conversations through the lens of the Student Christian Association [...]
i am hope-filled for South Africa. i am not so naive to not suspect how much of a knife point this country feels on at the moment and to know that at any moment things could suddenly go horribly wrong. We have a LONG way to go still and time feels short. But being in contact and engagement with an incredible growing amount of people who get it or are working towards getting it, really [...]
