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The white struggle is not:
1. Fighting for recognition to be called African.
2. Getting recognition for your struggle credentials ( by the way voting 'yes' in 91 doesn't give you struggle credentials').
3. Getting a medal for treating black people 'like human beings'.
4. Donating more money to charity. If you call it 'charity' you fail to acknowlege the fact that people can solve their own problems. 'Charity' often means forcing people to develop in a direction they don't necessarily want to.
5. One-upping your friends in being 'kind' to your maid. Can you buy the person who cleans your house a TV, house or microwave without announcing it to the entire SA?
6. Defending Western (which is often stolen from the East) innovations.
Am I saying deny your history, be rude to non-whites, don't give to tye less priviledged, fire your domestic worker and burn your cars, computers and coffee machines?
Nope. I'm just pleading with white people, especially the 'nice' ones, to re-examine the way they interact with others. I'm urging the beneficiaries of Apartheid to stop acting like evangelists, and get over themselves. See, like the colour of our eyes hair and skins, respect is also something we're born with. It's something we should do because we want to, minus the craving for reward and recognition.
If you believe that you already respect others because you want to, you might want to check what the white struggle should be, and if the intended results are what you really want. The white struggle is:
1. Accepting that the future of SA is black. Up until now black people have been good for cleaning, caring and doing hard labour. Right now, black people are starting to rise above that. If you're white, be prepared to end up in an old aged home where not only the nurses are black. It is inevitable that your the number of black students sharing a class with your children and the number of black people frequenting malls will keep increasing. There's no escaping the fact that SA is becoming 'black'. White people should start extending their 'love' for obedient black labourers to up and coming black people as well - Even the non-obedient types.
2. Accepting that you are sometimes wrong. The fight against Eurocentrism is not about chasing foreigners and foreign inventions into the sea. The fight is for black conciousness - for recognising, embracing and understanding other philosophies alongside your own.
3. Accepting that Apartheid is part of our history, and that it will often be used to analyse and explain trends in our society. It's a shared history. Just because you feel you didn't take part in the process doesn't change the fact that it ruined lives. Denying that is denying someone else's pain. Nobody should be forced to spare your feelings at the cost of erasing his/ her own identity.
4. Making white spaces open for all. In the non-rugby/football, Castle-lager sense of the word. Opening up these spaces without fleeing and finding new ones for 'whites-only'. Without paying bad-ass security forces to keep out enemies.
5. Replacing charity with solidarity, by asking people what they need instead of assuming that you already know what's good for them.
For those still saying that I'm stereotyping and looking at life through coloured glasses, all of the above mentioned attitudes are well and alive in South Africa. As a result I have to segregate my friend-circles, since you can never be guaranteed that your black friends won't fall victim to the white grammar/accent police at a braai. Also, at mixed parties, there's always that well intentioned white person taking it upon him/herself to educate those who 'can't get over their ANC loyalty'. Not to mention the ones complementing the 'good' non whites by telling them that they are honorary whites. If I was black, I'd have punched quite a few whites for such unconcious, racist evangelism.
Until the white struggle is over, I will not stop stereotyping. Until white people learn the art of solidarity, they should not even consider calling themselves African. As long as the 'good' white people deny that they really suck at dealing with the current struggle, struggle credentials are not theirs to take. Thus, struggle on my volk...
1. Fighting for recognition to be called African.
2. Getting recognition for your struggle credentials ( by the way voting 'yes' in 91 doesn't give you struggle credentials').
3. Getting a medal for treating black people 'like human beings'.
4. Donating more money to charity. If you call it 'charity' you fail to acknowlege the fact that people can solve their own problems. 'Charity' often means forcing people to develop in a direction they don't necessarily want to.
5. One-upping your friends in being 'kind' to your maid. Can you buy the person who cleans your house a TV, house or microwave without announcing it to the entire SA?
6. Defending Western (which is often stolen from the East) innovations.
Am I saying deny your history, be rude to non-whites, don't give to tye less priviledged, fire your domestic worker and burn your cars, computers and coffee machines?
Nope. I'm just pleading with white people, especially the 'nice' ones, to re-examine the way they interact with others. I'm urging the beneficiaries of Apartheid to stop acting like evangelists, and get over themselves. See, like the colour of our eyes hair and skins, respect is also something we're born with. It's something we should do because we want to, minus the craving for reward and recognition.
If you believe that you already respect others because you want to, you might want to check what the white struggle should be, and if the intended results are what you really want. The white struggle is:
1. Accepting that the future of SA is black. Up until now black people have been good for cleaning, caring and doing hard labour. Right now, black people are starting to rise above that. If you're white, be prepared to end up in an old aged home where not only the nurses are black. It is inevitable that your the number of black students sharing a class with your children and the number of black people frequenting malls will keep increasing. There's no escaping the fact that SA is becoming 'black'. White people should start extending their 'love' for obedient black labourers to up and coming black people as well - Even the non-obedient types.
2. Accepting that you are sometimes wrong. The fight against Eurocentrism is not about chasing foreigners and foreign inventions into the sea. The fight is for black conciousness - for recognising, embracing and understanding other philosophies alongside your own.
3. Accepting that Apartheid is part of our history, and that it will often be used to analyse and explain trends in our society. It's a shared history. Just because you feel you didn't take part in the process doesn't change the fact that it ruined lives. Denying that is denying someone else's pain. Nobody should be forced to spare your feelings at the cost of erasing his/ her own identity.
4. Making white spaces open for all. In the non-rugby/football, Castle-lager sense of the word. Opening up these spaces without fleeing and finding new ones for 'whites-only'. Without paying bad-ass security forces to keep out enemies.
5. Replacing charity with solidarity, by asking people what they need instead of assuming that you already know what's good for them.
For those still saying that I'm stereotyping and looking at life through coloured glasses, all of the above mentioned attitudes are well and alive in South Africa. As a result I have to segregate my friend-circles, since you can never be guaranteed that your black friends won't fall victim to the white grammar/accent police at a braai. Also, at mixed parties, there's always that well intentioned white person taking it upon him/herself to educate those who 'can't get over their ANC loyalty'. Not to mention the ones complementing the 'good' non whites by telling them that they are honorary whites. If I was black, I'd have punched quite a few whites for such unconcious, racist evangelism.
Until the white struggle is over, I will not stop stereotyping. Until white people learn the art of solidarity, they should not even consider calling themselves African. As long as the 'good' white people deny that they really suck at dealing with the current struggle, struggle credentials are not theirs to take. Thus, struggle on my volk...
