By Josie Cornell Vicky* had not thought much about her blackness, or what it meant. This changed rapidly upon her arrival at the University of Cape Town (UCT) as a first-year student where, for the first time, Vicky felt black. This “feeling of blackness” for Vicky and for other black students like her, particularly those […]
racism
Posted inEquality, General
Luister, you can keep your Oxford scholarship
By Mark John Burke Three years ago, I sat around a dinner table as one of 10 national finalists for five very prestigious scholarships to Oxford. Across from me sat a professor who insisted: “We need to do away with Afrikaans completely. It is the language of the oppressor. We need to start with universities.” […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
My name is Tim, I’m a racist and I’m running for president
A non-practising one. Probably best to make that clear right up front. “You cannot teach a racist to change,” says Rusty Bedsprings on an online forum, “you can only show him that his bigotry holds no power”. Wrong. You can and it does, big time. This is the whole point: Racism has South Africa by […]
Posted inEquality
Why I can’t ‘get over’ apartheid
By Khanya Mathambo As a black girl attending a private school, where white people are the majority, I often find myself on the opposing side of controversial issues. I think that this is a result of my own bias and what I feel are the blatantly ignorant views that form the basis of the opinions […]
Posted inEquality
The problem with ‘buying, swapping and selling’ domestic workers
I recently came across an advert about a domestic worker. The advert was a Facebook post written on a group called “Westville buy, swap and sell”. The group is used by a variety of people wanting to get rid of household appliances. I became uncomfortable when a black woman was made part of the list […]
Posted inGeneral
You say I’m not African – but that’s where I’m from?
… And my parents were also born and raised in South Africa? Those were the questions running through my mind during an encounter with a senior member of the English Department, Julia*, at a university here in Auckland where I was studying in 2014. We were pleasantly discussing possible PhD courses I could look at […]
Posted inGeneral
Polarised debate on Charleston hate crime, gun control leads nowhere
By now the story has reverberated around the world, that on the evening of June 17 a 21-year-old white man, Dylann Storm Roof, entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (the oldest black church in the South) in Charleston, South Carolina, and, about an hour later, shot and killed nine of the 12 worshipers gathered there […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
This article is for whites only
By Simeon Gready I would like to propose a challenge. This challenge is for the white people of South Africa, and it takes the form of a list. This list is a list of truths regarding the status of white in South Africa. I challenge the white person in South Africa to engage with this […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
I’m sick of statues
I don’t want to tap into the anger, the misunderstanding and the adolescent reasoning anymore. I don’t want to be caught up in the wildfire of people who are wilfully ignorant about our past, and I don’t want to jump on some bandwagon either. 1. This is not about a statue This isn’t just about […]
Posted inNews/Politics
50 shades of brown: Lessons on racism at UCT
By Dr Shikoh Gitau “Aunty don’t you mean beige?” the small voice interrupted. Her 12-year-old sister added: “You know if they were really white, they would be like this,” pointing at a blank sheet of paper. “And if we were black, we will be like that,” she said, pointing to the well-polished black ceramic glass […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The problem with #RhodesMustFall
South Africa has been consumed with statues in recent weeks. Statues have become a symbol of all the racial conflict bubbling beneath the surface of the “rainbow nation”. All at once, we agree that we need to talk about race and the colonial and apartheid history but at the same time we are afraid that […]
Posted inEquality, General, Media, News/Politics
Terrorism or mental illness? Why race matters
When co-pilot Andreas Lubitz crashed the Germanwings plane, killing 149 people, “mental illness” was deployed as an explanation. If he wore a turban and had a beard, and if I were a betting man, I would put my money on the media labelling him a terrorist. Where would you put your money? Be honest. Have […]