Hold on to your pearls.

i like to call myself ‘The Eternal Optimist’

This is particularly true when it comes to sport, and especially cricket. If it is still mathematically possible, i hold on hope to the very end, even if it looks really likely that we are going to lose. And then get genuinely surprised when we do.

i like to think i am the same with people to a large extent. i want to believe the best of a person. Which is why when someone hurts me or i hurt them, i tend to do whatever i can to make peace, often pursuing long after people think i should move on. And always leaving the door open, on the off chance that person wants to restore relationship.

i also like to think i am someone who doesn’t care what people thinks about me.

Although, having been married for five years to tbV, i know that is not true. The person who means the most to you’s opinion does tend to hold much weight.

And after a few years of having a blog, i have found that hurtful comments can and on occasion do have a deeply hurtful effect. Even when you know they are not true.

THERE IS A TIME TO ANSWER, AND A TIME TO REMAIN SILENT [AND WALK AWAY]

The last two days in particular, for some reason, unknown to me, knocked me a little bit. Part of it is the eternal optimism and the hope that people can and will change if they are just presented with reason [Although i am grateful for other people who jumped into the comment sections like Garth, Nkosi, Michael and Nicole who provided a calmer and more balanced voice of reason than mine] and also caring so deeply about the topic at hand – race and reconciliation, particularly in South Africa.

But these two guys managed to get to me a little, more for their comments and the attitudes that seemed to be prevailing behind them. And these are just two of their many comments that flooded the blog [some that i posted, some that i chose not to]:

”If they breed like flies, they should live like flies.’ [Jim, aka James Marais, who i believe is racist]

‘It is time that black people decided whether to return to the iron age, or to embrace the modern times and give thanks to the Europeans for advancing them out of history. I am tired of always having to work so hard to feed freeloaders who only seem to want to make babies they cannot feed. What if we all just stopped working and expected a handout? Everyone would starve.’ [Chris, aka Chris Thompson, who i believe is a racist]

Both of them are white and privileged and seem to be strongly focused on not having to give up any of their hard-earned money to black people, who in their opinion mostly sit around lazily, begging for money grants or expecting others to look after them, and of course making lots of babies.

They say, ‘Don’t cast your pearls before swine.’ But sometimes, especially when you are an eternal optimist, you only realise that your pearls have been cast before swine, when you see them crushed to fine powder beneath the feet of pigs.

i think one of the biggest reasons it has been a rough few days of ‘conversation’ is because it seems like these guys are talking about issues that they see or imagine. And i am talking about people. i keep thinking to myself, ‘If only these guys could come and have a meal with me and Nkosi and Fezile and a few other mates, then they’d realise what is really going on here.’ But i don’t know that they would. The words they use seem to indicate a deeply entrenched condition.

And so while i will always keep the door for conversation open, in the hope that those who would genuinely engage, despite how differently they may think from me, will take opportunities to share a meal and wrestle with important, significant and transformative things, i do believe there is also a healthy practice to be had in safeguarding the conversation a little bit more. And in not engaging beyond a certain point.

i think that feels like a wise place to head towards, in the same way that asking for this tattoo wasn’t.

Why economic inequality in South Africa is not a race thing.

So, the other day i tried to take a few steps back in this ongoing Race and Reconciliation conversation we’ve been having over here with this post trying to see if we could all agree that the incredibly out-of-proportion extreme gap between rich and poor in our country [and the world at large] is not okay.

Most people stayed away from engaging at all [maybe it’s cos of the busy time of the year, but questions like that also suggest follow-up questions and if those are engaged with deeply enough then there could be a cost involved so safer to just stay out of it for sure] but those who did largely agreed that we could start at that point, and then there were a number of, ‘Yes, but…’s, which should probably be filed as ‘No’ because the question was, ‘Can we all agree that this is not okay?’

So the next question becomes that of race, with some people emphatically suggesting that the problems in South Africa are economic or socio-economic class problems and not race related.

i beg to differ.

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN SOUTH AFRICA IS STILL A RACE THING

Wait, but you said, i thought, that economic inequality in South Africa is not a race thing?

Well, yes and no. i typically don’t believe that economic inequality in and of itself is a race thing, and i do believe that South Africa is moving more towards a time and a place [although this is going to take a while still] where the issues become more economic and socio-economic than race…

BUT, because of the history of apartheid and the debilitating and damaging effect it had on so many people, and the lingering consequences thereof, the wealthy in our country for the most part continue to be white and the poor continue to be black [and completely realise there are coloured and indian as well as asian and other-african stories that make up this equation as well and am eager to hear from people who can adequately represent those stories] and so at the moment it remains a race thing.

As one of the young leaders said to me on our recent trip to Robben Island, Mandela helped bring the people of South Africa over the bridge of Reconciliation, but he didn’t bring the economy over that bridge. A great injustice was done to a huge percentage of the people in our country and while we can all be friends now [to simplify it completely], that doesn’t mean that there is not some outstanding justice to be done.

THE ‘HOW’ OF TRUE RESTITUTION AND REPARATION IS THE GHOST CALLING OUT TO US

If you steal a car from someone and they catch you and you say that you are sorry, then there may be a way for that person to forgive you and to refuse to press charges. But you have to give the car back.

This seems to be the point a lot of white people i know are stumbling over. We get that apartheid was bad. We are really sorry and we hope that you can forgive us. But we would like to keep the car.

Now, what i think makes it tricky, is that land was stolen a generation or two ago. Figuring out who took what from whom and trying to get it back to them feels like a ridiculously complicated thing. i have spoken to a small number of black people who feel very strongly about this issue, but am yet to find someone who has some kind of practical solution.

i imagine even those who would go the more extreme route and take the land using violent means, practically would not easily be able to say how that works in terms of who gets what.

So that does seem to be a very big and daunting HOW. But that doesn’t mean that we can simply just shrug it off and “Let bygones be bygones. That is an easier thing to feel and say when you are now the one with the car.

Yes? So please hear me loud and clear on this one when i say i have more questions than answers. i don’t know how this all plays out well. The issue definitely seems to be blurred or obstacled by the mess that is Nkandla and corrupt government officials seemingly wasting a whole lot of taxpayers money on a lot of occasions and the corruption that exists at the top. But i don’t think that is directly related to the issue at hand and if we raise that, then i feel like we are missing some of the conversations and actions that need to happen.

i would love to hear your thoughts on this:

[1] Comment on my statement that while we are heading towards a time when the issues are more socio-economically defined, at the moment at least, there is still a huge amount of race-relatedness to that conversation [as the way our system is divided socio-economically is still so much related to race issues past]

[2] Your ideas concerning reparation and restitution – Do you think we have done all that is necessary with regards to our apartheid past and we all need to just move on and make the best of a bad situation? Or do you feel, like me, that there is still some work to be done in terms of economically making amends for some of the travesties that were committed.

[3] Play nice. The moment you make it personal, you lose your audience. You can be passionate and respectful.

[For other South Africa related posts and conversations, click here]

the Friday FANatic 12/12/2014

From Worst Christian Book covers of 2014 to how to respond to Trolls or other people online you disagree strongly with, to a whole bunch of really helpful, insightful and great articles on race-related things and some reflections on our time at Robben Island, this has been another crazy  week of much to read, watch and ingest, and i would hate for you to miss any of it and so i have compiled this Don’t-Miss-Out summary of some of the greatest and lamest and most interesting moments from the web this past week.

Catch up on some of the gems you missed and share them with your friends:

 

MOST UNLIKELY CHRISTMAS GIFTS: If you haven’t finalised your Christmas Shopping yet, there will most likely still be time to order any of these, which i imagine will be sticking firmly to the shelves:

 

Worst Christian Book covers of 2014/2015

 
 

MOST HELPFUL.INSIGHTFUL IN THE ONGOING RACE CONVERSATION: i have continued to read a LOT around this topic and keep on finding SO MANY POSTS that are just so good. i took three of the best of them and stuck them together in this blog post:

 

The Wisdom of Others in Talking about Race
But then immediately found this interview with Christian Rapper Propaganda which made some of the aspects of it even clearer and it is worth reading the whole thing on Relevant Magazine, but at the very least part 2:

 

Interview With Propaganda by Relevant Magazine, Part II
 
 
MOST HELPFUL ADVICE WITH REGARD TO TROLLS AND OTHERS IN STRONG DISAGREEMENT: 

 

Why I run with Trolls: While a lot of people think that engagement with people who are strongly opposed to an idea you might be discussing is a waste of time, i give some ideas on why it might not be.

 
 

MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT:

 

Journey to Robben Island series: Last weekend i was privileged to go with tbV and a group of about twenty young up and coming Christian leaders to spend the weekend at Robben Island and i posted some snapshots into that experience.

 
 

MOST INSPIRATIONAL:

 

18 Badass women you probably didn’t hear about in 2014: Suggested by my friend Lindsay Brown, here is a remarkable list of some stories that didn’t get as much noise as they could have this last year.

 
 

CLASSIC PHOTO MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Go and order some Thai food for my wife and this is the Customer name they assign to me:

 

 
 

MOST EPIC USA MEETS SA VIDEO: With over 200 shares just from my Facebook blog page, i imagine you have probably seen this already, but if not then watch how Trevor Noah takes on the might of Americaland in this clip from The Daily Show:

 

 
 

MOST INSPIRING SONG: Absolutely love Asumbonanga by Johnny Clegg and he released a new version of it to coincide with the one year remembering of Nelson Mandela’s death:

 

 
 

MOST CRINGEWORTHY MOMENT:

 

Watching The Ellen Show where Ellen is chatting to her ‘Most amazing teacher of the year’ who is this white lady working with mostly Asian kids and the moment in the video where the teacher says, “Some of them don’t even have English names yet.”

 
 
FROM THE TWITTERER:
 

“A movement starts when the founder really knows Jesus. You know how a movement dies? When the followers only know the founder.” Francis Chan @crazylove

“There is no point being in the right place at the right time if you are not then willing to do the right thing.” Mike Pilavachi @MikePilav

“Convictions don’t change the world. Rather, people who faithfully and tenaciously pursue and live out their convictions change the world.” Eugene Cho @EugeneCho

 
 
Analogies are like sandwiches; I’m making one right now. #TenPunBowling @Benjamin_G_Lund

Assistant measured my feet and said “You’re an eight” I couldn’t. #TenPunBowling @FemmeDomestique
 
 
Hashtag Game suggestions i’ve submitted:

#OlympicFilms When Harry met Slalom

#OlympicFilms Lacrosse and the Switchblade

#OlympicFilms The Good, The Badminton and the Ugly

#OlympicFilms And now for something completely discus
 
 
CELEB TWEET LOVE
 

Brought my Celeb Tweet love up to 4 with this Retweet from Parks and Rec’s own John Ralphio:

Jean Ralphio favorited your Tweet

Dec 11: @rejectedjokes Oh no. Love us some Jean-Ralphio. Well played dude. So. Much. Fun. #ParksAndRec
 
 
What about you? What blog posts or articles caught your eye this week? What has been making you think or laugh or be challenged or go, ‘Wo!’? What have you written on your blog that is worth taking a look at?

Leave us a link in the comments for our weekendentertainment…

 
 

The Wisdom of Others in talking about Race

i am almost overwhelmed by the amount of posts i have been discovering or people have been linking me to when it comes to race. What has been amazing has been so many of  them have been so incredibly good. i imagine there are a lot of people who see ‘Anothe ace post by Brett Fish’ and roll their eyes or reach for the unsubscribe. But i am confident that there are enough people following and contributing to this conversation that it is worth continuing it.

There is still so much i need to learn and hear. Thank you to everyone who has been sharing their unearthed gems with me.

This post is simply to highlight some of the more recent posts i have been reading from Americaland and here, where there is a surprising amount of mirroring, echo and comparison that can be made despite our countries having some significant differences in present context [one being that in Americaland white people are the majority, whereas in South Africa we were in the minority]

There is work to be done:

# Dear White Brothers and Sisters: Why #BlackLivesMatter Matters to you – This post, by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson on Amy Julia Becker’s blog i one of the best pieces i have read in terms of explaining the hashtags, the importance of #BlackLivesMatter vs #AllLivesMatter and giving some positive actions steps as to how you can be part of the solution.

The Washington Post recently published an article revealing that “for every 91 white friends a white American has, they have only one black friend.” Additionally, “the study found that 75 percent of whites have entirely white social networks without any minority presence.” The lack of intimate connection to diverse communities, and sociological research demonstrates, that white people need better cultural tools to process racial concerns.

Some people have pushed back on #BlackLivesMatter with an#AllLivesMatter. Generalizing this important statement is simply a way of silencing the wilderness experiences of black folks and those who are lamenting the senseless loss of black lives. Of course, all lives and all children matter, but all are not being killed by cops. When I say #BlackLivesMatter, I am saying that black people need the same protections as white people from the police and their communities. Now is the time to hold powerful and political structures accountable.

# Thoughts from a Recovering Racist is an article with one of the most helpful stories that drives home the message of what ‘White Privilege’ is all about – Josh Throneburg tells his story and then doesn’t go as far as saying the words, but the point of the story is ‘This would not have played out the same way if i was black.’ And i think he is right – i received the same kind of get-out-of-jail-free card encounter when we lived in Oakland where the police officers would routinely stop drivers simply because they were black and i, being someone who deserved to be punished, was tossed a lifeline.

So read his story and take some time to focus on the helpful hints he gives at the bottom of his piece:

If your whole world is pretty much white people, like what I described above, watch what you say.  I shouldn’t tell a woman not to yell and scream during childbirth, and you shouldn’t tell the black community that they are overreacting, or missing the point, or biased.  We have no idea how they feel or how deeply this hurts.  These last two weeks have inflicted serious injury, so please keep quiet and don’t aggravate their pain.

And a bonus for my Christ-following friends:

Finally, if you are someone that reads the Bible, then you may know Paul’s verse in Romans that says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”.  This verse assumes that there are patterns of thought informed by this world, and that those are old ways of thought that must be made new. 

# We aren’t playing the Race Card, we are analyzing the Racialised Deck – This is a helpful post, by Drew Hart, highlighting the need to look at the bigger picture of systemic injustice as opposed to the ease with which we can dismiss individual incidents separated from context:

Merely speaking about this incident and mentioning racism resulted in the common backlash accusation of playing this mythical item. It is used over and over again by some white people instead of engaging in dialogue through sharing and listening, the choice is made to stigmatize and scapegoat those that disagree that America is mostly a colorblind post-racial nation. There are certain scripts that the white majority learns and rehearses through subtle socialization in dominant culture. Rather than doing the hard work of careful in-depth investigation of the matter, quick cliché dismissals are used to uphold the status quo.

A different definition of racism which includes the following:

Racism is about one group having enough power to organize society by its categories (legally or by voluntary choices) in such a way that it advantages most of the dominant groups members at the expense of another group’s welfare. Backing up and looking at racial patterns (historical and sociological) a bigger entity than personal prejudice comes into view. Suddenly, through historical and sociological study, we can see that America is a highly racialized society that is dominated and controlled by the white majority.

And THIS is where it starts to get real:

These patterns also begin to reveal what it means to live on the underside of our racialized society. Though white and black youth are using drugs at comparable rate (research suggests close to equal with white youth using slightly more than black youth), black men are disproportionately arrested for nonviolent drug offenses. 1 out of 3 African Americans will go through the system because the War on Drugs has focused on urban black and brown neighborhoods rather than the vanilla suburbs.

We have to ask deeper questions. We must talk less, be slower to jump in with defence or argument and simply listen more. Try and hear. Attempt to understand. What others are thinking and feeling and meaning when they say what they say.

What articles, posts, videos have you found helpful in terms of this conversation in the last week or so? Please leave us a link in the comments. Also let us know what was the one eye-opening thing for you in any of these articles that you read?

[For more thoughts from a variety of sources on this idea of White Privilege, click here]

the Friday FANatic 05/12/2014

oh wow, what to leave out this week… there has been a lot of goodness and just importance flying around the internet… i don’t expect you to read all these things but at the very least, please scroll down and pick one thing you missed and then if you enjoy it please SHARE it with your social media people – some important stuff to get eyes on this week:

MOST INSPIRING:

Abundance > Scarcity: As the procession towards Christmas picks up pace, our good friends @4CommonChange have launched The Generosity Project which calls for 25 days of generosity. With daily articles and creative ideas on how that might look for you and your family over the next couple of weeks.

#generousliving #generosityproject #GiveMoreSpendLess

MOST INSTRUCTIVE:

Before you disagree [on matters of race etc]:Some thoughts i had after engaging with Austin Channing [black woman in Americaland whose writing i really appreciate] on a topic we disagreed on, focusing on listening and trying to hear rather than simply making my point.

MOST IMPORTANT:

An open letter to my White Friends, in South Africa and Americaland: There are people saying a lot of these things much better than me, but this conversation i feel is SO VITAL and NECESSARY and the time for white people to be uninterested, disengaged or apathetic should be long gone.

MOST SCATHING

The Big Read: 16 Days Dead on Arrival: Tom Eaton’s piece that he wrote for the Times takes a look at the “16 Days of Activism Against Women and Child Abuse” campaign and reveals where he thinks the organisers ma have missed the point.

MOST PRACTICAL

12 Things White People Can Do Now Because Ferguson: This piece i found really helpful as a white person wanting to know how i can be a white ally with regards to the situation in Americaland in terms of racial tension and inequality.

MOST CHALLENGING AND PRACTICAL HELPFUL FOR PARENTS

Are we Raising a Generation of Helpless Kids: Despite not being a biological parent, i have a lot of time and respect and love for those who are and so articles like this catch my attention and for some of you this will be an important and helpful post [not by me].

MOST UNLIKELY TO BE UNSEEN

This playful video of me and tbV wishing you the most merriest of Christm-asses will stay firmly lodged in your brain in the very best of ways.

MOST TRUTHFUL

Not a big fan of statistics myself, but this graph don’t lie:

FROM THE TWITTERER:

‘Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.’ [Elie Wiesel]

‘Two ears. Two eyes. One mouth. [Use them in that order]’

“We are the ones we have been waiting for.” [June Jordan 1970s Poem for South African Women]

Chanting “All Lives Matter” or tweeting it erases the reality that Black ppl die in greater numbers than other races. #BlackLivesMatter [@grimalkinrn]

Justice won’t be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. BE OUTRAGED #ICantBreathe [@peaceforus4ever]

Also i have been investing in a little bit of Hashtag game distraction amidst all the overbearingly serious:

#TerribleRestaurantNames The Foot and Mouth

#FightingMovies Brawl the Presidents Men

#FightingMovies Scratch Me If You Can

#MathematicsAMovie American History Solve for X

#DogFilms Sniffing Ryan’s Privates

What about you? What blog posts or articles caught your eye this week? What has been making you think or laugh or be challenged or go, ‘Wo!’? What have you written on your blog that is worth taking a look at?

Leave us a link in the comments for our weekend reading…

Dubula ibhulu: Shoot the Boer/Farmer [and why we need to embrace this song]

 

[Possibly as good a time as any to remind readers that while i don’t necessarily agree with all the points made in every post that is published on my blog, i do believe that the conversation and engagement with pieces like this is absolutely invaluable and i think it is so helpful to know and understand why people around us are thinking what they are. If you agree or disagree with anything in this post, jump into the comments section and let’s engage, but play nice]

PW Botha once said: “the black man is only as good as singing and digging”. There is one thing that PW Botha never understood and that is the songs sung are not just songs they are an expression of the heart. The anger of the black people were carried in songs, therefore when PW Botha spoke about singing what he was talking about was the emotions of the blacks expressed in singing. It’s sad that he pointed out two contradicting actions, one was externally motivated (slavery) that is digging and the other was internally exasperated by the emotions (anger from hatred of slavery). This makes music a very powerful tool of expression. I was amazed when I heard that amazing grace was written by John Newton and the melody of the song is a black slave kind of melody and rhythm. This song was written as a conviction that slavery was wrong! What is more interesting about this song “amazing grace” is that the writer even uses the slavery rhythmic sound.

We need to understand that songs were a motivation, they were sung with a meaning, they were sung with a mission and they were sung with goals. There is a song that got Malema into hot ashes (Dubula ibhulu) that song was a motivation at the time. It was a response to a monstrous system that was tutoring the black child at the time.  I do think and believe that “Dubula ibhulu” must be part of our history the rich history of South Afrika. I think this song as it was composed at the time it played a very vital role in encouraging those who were involved in the armed struggle. It should be part of the education of children today such that they would know then strength behind the things that they take for granted. Let me just try to expose the relevance of this song during the time:

1) In this time the people who were involved in the armed struggle went to fighting without being well resourced in-terms of weapons. The price was high and there were more chances of dying and being arrested. Because there were many who used Pangas, stones and petrol bombs as compared to those who were carrying guns there had to be a kind of motivation.  Now the motivation either came from the cause itself of-which I do think that mostly it came from the cause. But also remember that the cause only has the power to drive an individual but the song carries the power to unite a group of people singing the same song and being driven towards the same goal this means that this song at this time was vital for retaliation regardless of the limitations. therefore this song must be part of our heritage.

2)   In the battlefield not so many intellectuals were involved but they were only involved in the intellectual and diplomatic engagements with whites in trying to convince the whites that “we are also humans”. The only intellectuals who took a different approach from this kind of approach were only found in the 1960’s where PAC leadership was entirely arrested under the leadership of Robert Mangaliso Sobukhwe. This means that mostly people who were foot soldiers were uneducated as a result I have learned that many of the people who went into exile for military training of different political organisations are not so well resourced in terms of political education. Now the political education is never separate from resistance hence Steve Biko when defining black consciousness he does not leave out the process of resistance. Now if there is no much of political education what would have motivated the resistance if not a song? This song motivated the martyrs not to back down, not to retreat and not to surrender but to soldier on. therefore this song must be part of our heritage.

3)  Also songs tells stories of a particular time, I think for those who did not live in the cities where they would know and understand the current issues regarding the struggle they would listen to songs and understand what more or less is happening. I remember as a young boy growing up there was a song that went like “Oliver Thambo thetha no botha akhulule u Mandela” (Oliver Tambo speak with Botha to release Mandela). Just by this song without being told of what was happening at the time anyone can just tell that Mandela is arrested and Mandela is the hope of the people and the current leader they have is Oliver Tambo. Now this shows that songs summarized issues. Now “dubula ibhulu” was a summary or what we can possible call a program of action for the time.  Now if we all believe that every response that blacks gave as resistance was right in every right then this song should be embraced by us all. This song must be part of our heritage.

I further think that if we truly believe that every act of resistance that was during the apartheid years played a major role in bringing about what we see today and we do love and embrace what we see and also want for more than this in terms of improving and building up the country then the song “dubula ibhulu” is very much part of that hopes and actions and celebrations. I fail to understand why would we celebrate the picture of Hector Pieterson (The June 16 picture) and yet despise such a revolutionary song. Also as much as that picture of Hector Pieterson played such an incredible role in bringing about what we see today then “dubula ibhulu” is not less. I think in our museums we should have the lyrics of this song written because it carries so much pain and so much resistance in it.

The argument that this song incites violence and it led to the killing of Eugene Terreblanche I totally disagree with it. The thing is more black people are dying in our communities and there is no song that is sang that says “kill the blacks”. It is in the black townships where the murder rate is so high and not in the farms or suburbs where white people are found. Therefore more than anything else I think this song is a political statement and it is confrontational to the status quo if it was not then we would enjoy this song. The reason why there are some of us that are scared when this song is sang it is simple because the past is following them or they are still holding on to the past. This song when we look at it today we should see that it meant to pull down the system, to dis-anchor the superiority of one over the other. If I were to ask how many people died because this song was sang? I don’t think there will even be one reason being people don’t die because songs are sang. Im just reminded of a song by Lil Wayne (an American rapper) which says “I feel like dying” I have never heard of any person who listened to this song and committed suicide afterwards. I am imagining a country where both white and blacks sings this song together because it helped bringing salvation to those who were superior and those who were inferior but can we sing the same song if we live two different lives? Can we sing the same song if we live in two different worlds? I think part of the reason why this song is hard to sing for some is basically the guilt of the package of the past that we still carrying.

I can still remember that this song got Malema into court, there were complaints from members of the FF+. I can recall one of the intelligent responses of Malema in court he said “When Chris Hani was killed we were walking in streets of white suburbs and we were angry because the great leader who carried hope for us was killed, and we knew that he was killed by a white person but as angry as we were we never killed anyone for that, now today why would we kill anyone?” Either we must admit that there is a white and a black problem in South Afrika, or we continue to lie to ourselves. The problem is bigger than a song maybe a song does raise what is already there. If the white and the black problem was solved then we wouldn’t be worried of who sings what. Maybe new songs would have been composed that speaks of the current state of south Afrika. But because South Afrika is the same as the past then this makes “dubula ibhulu” more appealing to the person who was singing “dubula ibhulu” anfd makes “dubula ibhulu” bitter to whom “dubula ibhulu” was bitter. If anything was different then our reaction towards the song would have been different but because things are still the same then we have the same response. I am quite sure that there are many black people who feels like singing this song as they are confronted by whiteness daily. Whiteness confronts them at work place, schools, streets and everywhere else. Some are confronted by whiteness by being thought to be prostitutes, some same whiteness by being mistaken to a robber. Some are confronted by whiteness in toilets, where there are toilets written “whites only” 24 years later.

Who wouldn’t feel like singing this song if they were faced by the same realities of the past. I think this song comes because everything that is happening around these people is reminding them about the past where this song was relevant. Remember that the relevance of this song were determined by the conditions, now if the conditions defines the times when this song was relevant then shouldn’t this song be sung? This song again I say must be part of our heritage if we truly living in a new South Afrika but if not then let’s not sing this song so that our tolerance towards one another can be kept successfully.

I think also that a song carries the past and it talks about the present and it shapes how we can view the future, for example look into the church history we find the very reformation being recorded and written as hymns. According to Ps Hombana, Hymns dealt with and deals with the conscience of the person. Hymns dealt with the inner man of a person, and they deal with such today. It was a situation of the black people that lead Tiyo Soga to write the hymn “Lizalise idinga lakho”, this song was a composition from the pain of Tiyo Soga when the Xhosa people were misled by nongqawuse to kill their cows such that this event in particular had a direct impact with slavery in SA. Now to the black people songs are an expression and motivation. The power of songs gave birth to factionalism in the politics of the ANC such that when Mbeki was to be removed there was a song that went like “u Zuma lo my president”. To us as black people we sing when in pain, we sing when happy we sing when working. Even in the circumcision school there are songs that are sang for that particular circumstance. Those are motivated by the situation there. Now to the black people songs are not just composed, for even our national anthem “Nkosi Sikelela I Afrika” this was a prayer. A deep and emotional prayer of a liberation fighter who saw the situation of black Afrika as not a blessing from God. This triggered a prayer that God may bless Afrika!!! Enoch Sontonga expressed his prayer in a song. Many revolutions were born from songs that were composed by individuals for groups. Songs were also sang as a form of preserving the truth in the olden days. That is the reason why one would find that in a middle of a story (fairy tale) there’s normally a song. This makes songs to be part of our heritage, unfortunately we are new in this whole thing of literature, and then this means that our heritage is still carried in songs and stories. if we were living in a new south Afrika we would all celebrate this song but because we are still not convinced that all that was happening in the past was wrong, we continuing with what was happening in the past today and when the reaction of the past (in a song is made) we start to get worried. This song must be part of the South Afrikan heritage.

Brett Fish: For the sake of those who do not know the song, here are the words and the translation:

Ayesab’ amagwala (Cowards are scared)
Dubula! dubula! dubula nge s’bhamu (Shoot, shoot, shoot them with a gun)
Dubul’ ibhunu (Shoot the boer)
Dubula! dubula! dubula nge s’bhamu (Shoot, shoot, shoot them with a gun)
Mama, ndiyeke ndidubul’ ibhunu (Ma, let me shoot the Boer)
Dubula! dubula! dubula nge s’bhamu (Shoot, shoot, shoot them with a gun)
Ziyareypa lezinja (These dogs rape)
Dubula! dubula! dubula nge s’bhamu (Shoot, shoot, shoot them with a gun)

[For other important conversations relating to Race and Reconciliation, click here]

 

Steps Towards Transformation: part Employment Equity: Sindile Vabaza

I think it is important that I give an examples of how ‘baseline’ thinking can help us navigate difficult waters.

1.) The issue of employment equity is a difficult one. My take on it is that from my experience both young white and black people fundamentally want to feel like they are being treated fairly and of course that is a most reasonable thing, but I do want to latch on to the idea of fairness.

If we are to truly work towards fairness we have to agree in principle on certain things.

We all have to agree in principle that it is not a desirable thing when talented young white people are snubbed for jobs in order to fill quotas.

However white people must also recognise and admit that when black people come into the workplace they are assumed INCOMPETENT until proven otherwise, while white people are assumed COMPETENT until proven otherwise. This sort of thing contributes to the larger feeling of racial inequality which pervades society.

In order to illustrate this I will use examples of people I know.

I have a white friend who was snubbed for a job because of AA. He is bright and applied his economics training while he was at varsity to helping solve problems in poor communities.

He was hurt that he was overlooked for a job.

I didn’t feel okay about this,

But also I remember going to an engineers braai at Wits with some friends and catching up and hearing stories of black graduates who talked of their difficulties in the workplace.

A lot of these guys and girls came from poor backgrounds(their schools were the kind you payed R100 a year to go to), who had faced obstacles many white people cannot even fathom and yet when they got to the workplace they found themselves faced with even more systematic challenges(something I think would make anyone bitter) and exclusion that FELT distinctly racial.

Now my point is this; There are grievances on both sides of this and a solution is not going to be easy or painless but if we are to move forward and move towards creating non-racial workspaces we must all admit that the workplace is engineered in the sense that white people have an easier path to success(because of the generational privileges accorded to them by Apartheid) and that some very undeserving black people have at times being given jobs(AA and BEE are attempts to disrupt the ‘white’ hegemony created in the workplace by Apartheid policies)….

It seems to me that a lot of young white and black people could unburden themselves if they was an agreement that what we ALL WANT are workspaces where the brightest and the most hardworking and those who network the best can get ahead(social and emotional intelligence).

I think it also needs to be said that a lot of white people are grossly entitled and this evidences by the fact that when they don’t get hired they immediatedly assume it’s because of AA or BEE. This is shockingly arrogant because it assumes that a person of colour can never be more suitable for a job than them. In fact I would go so far as to say that this is a racist assumption.

So, in short, I personally think that until white people become serious(as those who have an advantage in the workplace) and agree to the baseline requirements I mentioned, we will not move forward on this issue anytime soon.

We can only have a discussion point once all sides recognise that our system is fundamentally set up in a way that encourages dichotomy and antagonism and that we have to imagine a better way forward otherwise we find ourselves in a future of mutually assured misery

[For more thoughts on First Steps towards a New South Africa by Sindile, click here]

[For a whole host of other Race vibes, click here]