May I tell you?

Growing up in apartheid South Africa as a non-white person, living under the Group Areas Act where you only saw people like you with the same coloured skin, living with the knowledge that your people had to be hidden from view — white view — left scarred for life and needing immense strength to shelve the hurt and pain in memory’s hinterland.

 

This divisive system invites shame — why am I not good enough? Why can’t I eat at that wonderful seaside restaurant? Why can’t I go to a school with its English countryside setting and Victorian buildings? Why am I afraid every time I see a police officer or paddy wagon? Why can’t I lift my eyes above the ground? What have I done to be born black?

Here is why…

Racism is hatred that unleashes a plethora of negativity both ways: Unchecked power that intensifies with acts of brutality that crucifies an already broken self-concept. Systemic injustice — physical, emotional, and psychological feeds the depraved hands of power. How does the victim deal with an enforced erosion of who they are?

Let me tell you…

There are only two ways: head down — mind their manners or take to the streets to protest. Stop! When power strikes up against protest it is obvious that human survival instinct kicks in and violence erupts. Nobody wants violence — justice is all the victim wants — a fair go — it starts out as a peaceful protest, and if left to do just that, no force is necessary. Let the voices crying out for change be heard or it speaks of intolerance to change.

Then somebody cries ‘looters!’

This is why this happens…

The downtrodden are as the words say it, the ‘have-nots’— denied, deprived, shamed, and blamed for all the ills of the land. Human instinct kicks in again and necessity guides reaction/behaviour. Before we cry ‘looting’ investigate what underpins it. Where there’s social inequity the ‘haves’ have ‘looted’ the country for a very long time taking more than they needed — perpetuating inequity.

History tells us that peaceful protests become violent when the hand of power strikes. Decades before Nelson Mandela sat at the helm of government in South Africa, the country was on the brink of civil war and the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 like the Soweto riots of 1976 started out as a call for justice but led to police taking up arms against protesting civilians who wanted their voices heard.

#BlackLivesMatter is a timeless cry for justice from the time of Rudyard Kipling who referred to the people of the African continent as ‘half-devil and half-child, ’ in his 1899 poem, White Man’s Burden.
Colonialism stole the right to justice — a fair go, for original inhabitants of the land. Assimilation — one way or no way denies culture, heritage and the right of recognition.
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Remember those fallen at the hands of racial prejudice — countless — the loved ones of grieving families — too many still dying at the hands of what can be changed…if they are heard.

 

 

 

 

Listen to this Ted Talk by Amy Thunig: Disruption is not a dirty word that pulls no punches on racism endured by Indigenous Australians in a country I call home.

It’s 2020, and some in the misguided grip of power swim in the quagmire of the barbarism of racial prejudice — educated by book not humane moral code — sure-fire intellect — no emotional intelligence. Silence widens and deepens the stain of prejudice. Speaking out against racism does not always win friends and influence people, but the few who join black brothers and sisters in the fight for justice at the risk of losing their tribe — those are the gems that make #AllLivesMatter, for they will pull together to create liberty, equality and we all need fraternity.

 

What is your choice to be on #BlackLivesMatter?

Stay safe, speak up against injustice but as John Proctor cried in The Crucible – ‘Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! … leave me my name!’

What do you want to be remembered for?