i do not know all the answers. Let's start there, shall we. This is not a post from the guy who knows all the answers, trying to make you feel bad because you don't. In fact, at the moment i'm really just working on trying to figure out the right questions. I'm not expecting you to have all the answers, and i'm not claiming that you do and that you're ignoring them or a really [...]
...by the time you read this post, you'll be gone... So in response to my post directed at my white friends in South Africa and Americaland with regards to race-related things, i got a rather strong sounding response from a guy called John. Which i thought it might be quite fun to respond to: The reason I write you off as another white “Arts-degree” imbecile: You compare the history and economics and politics and sociology [...]
A short while ago i introduced this panel to you made up of friends of mine from South Africa who are from a variety of different race groups/backgrounds and then invited you to ask any race-related questions you might have. The opinions of the members of the panel are in no way expected to represent the thoughts, feelings and ideas of a whole race group or culture, nor are they anticipated to be complete expositions [...]
a short while ago i stumbled on to this link about these 2 college students who snuck into an empty classroom and then did some incredibly creative stuff. i can only imagine the effect it would have had on the students. the anticipation that it would have built up in the whole school of which class is going to be next, what saying is going to appear, how is it going to look and all [...]
What a shock some of you reading this will get when you discover that my dad, yes, my biological father, is coloured. “But you look so white!” many have noted. Well done. It is true – I am a mixed baby, although I got the paler skin of our mother while my brother has many a time been compared to a Mexican. We’ve heard some interesting guesses of our ethnicity over the years: Portuguese, Brazilian, [...]
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 [...]
American-African meets African-American. We met at university; both of us were on student leadership for our respective halls. Sherrell’s from Durham, NC. James is from Cape Town, South Africa (Well, mostly). Naturally, there are a lot of cultural differences we’ve discovered along the way. For starters, we have different likes and dislikes, some of them diametrically opposite each other, ranging from the superficial, like our tastes in music and to how we like to [...]
Let's crank this thing up a notch. Two articles that have caught my attention recently [Thankx Tsholofelo for the first one] and have a lot to say in this Race conversation that we've started and are engaging with each other on [although am still hoping to see more of that]. These feel like they could be part of the 'can of worms' and 'Pandora's Box' i was promised [threatened with?] when i said that i [...]
At first I was reluctant to write about this, because it can open up a whole can of worms or feels like kicking a sleeping dog… But if it’s going to help build relationships across the grey areas of race – then so be it. Firstly, I speak to white people who generalise and stereotype people of colour. I myself, had to challenge myself to see beyond colour and actually get to know people for [...]
i don't know if this is the right place to begin this conversation on race, but it is a place and so will hopefully get the ball rolling and then we can see where it goes from there. i think we would be foolish to believe that this conversation will be easy or comfortable all the way through - i am hoping we will be able to get to a place where people can be [...]