For Blacks Only: Guest post by Linde Ndaba

My name is Linde Ndaba and I’m addicted. My addiction might not have me shacking relentlessly from withdrawal symptoms, as drug dependence often does or leave me broke and destitute, but it may arguably be just as problematic.

As a black person raised in a white suburb

Just One Story? The Pavement Bookworm

‘Books are a very important part of my life. Books are my wealth and pay my bills. Books have a magic that keeps me going through hard times.’

[Philani Dladla, The Pavement Bookworm, opening line]

Meet Philani Dladla.

You may have seen glimpses of his story that went viral a while back as a young man on a street corner selling book reviews to people. But yesterday morning i got to meet him.

How to be an Ally: #NotOnMyWatch

i want to continue this series on trying to figure out as white people, how we can be better allies to our friends of colour and i guess people of colour in general. i would LOVE to have more of you contributing pieces to this series, so if you have an idea please get hold of me.

This is similar to the ‘Just say No’ post i did a while back, but i also want to take it a little bit further.

How Long?

This is a comment that ‘Jul’ posted on one of my blog posts the other day and deserved to be a blog post of its own [hope that’s okay, Jul?]:

For over 21 years, black South Africans have largely forgiven the majority of the white population who repeatedly voted in a racist government that dehumanised and denied them their most basic human rights.

i am NOT brave.

Since i have started speaking and writing more about issues of Race in South Africa i have had a fair amount of [mostly black] people telling me from time to time how brave i am. i don’t believe that is true.

#NotOnMyWatch

White people of South Africa. The time is now!

Yesterday i shared a status by my friend Sindile which is pretty much going viral which is excellent to see as it is such an important prophetic word especially for the white people across South Africa to really get. This is the summation extract from that post:

The Deep Dive South Africa needs.

i crawled into bed sometime after 2 this morning… Exhausted, challenged, frustrated, reflective, inspired, hopeful. It had been a long, packed day.

The night before had seen 11 of us sharing a meal and then sitting outside in our tiny courtyard, wrestling with the idea of what it means to Live Simply.