Featured Privilege Uncategorized

Understand where we’re coming from

Dark days: a photograph depicting separation of `whites¿ and `non-whites¿ on a bridge in Cape Town.

  Between 1960 and 1983, about 3.5 million black South Africans (black Africans, Indians, Coloureds) were forcibly removed from their homes and had to resettle in other areas, thus beginning the implementation of the Group Areas Act to enforce residential segregation. The act was aimed at segregating all South Africans according to their race and […]

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Identity Privilege Race

I thought I was white. Now what?

Racism Mina Demian

In the USA, Arab-Americans have been classified as white for the past 70 years. With recent contestation arising around this classification, it must be asked: in a multinational context, what are the tensions around being considered white, despite being a person of colour? Aaisha Dadi Patel chatted to 34-year-old Mina Demian, a Swedish writer of Egyptian descent, living in Westdene, […]

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Featured Race

Calling out racism online – is it helping?

Racism twitter

It’s 2016 and racists, sexists and misogynists are getting schooled as soon as they expose themselves. As they should be. But is the social policing we’re witnessing spreading hate, or pushing people towards worthy dialogue? Crucially, what happens next? Aaisha Dadi Patel and Dana da Silva weigh it up. Calling out “problematic” people on social media is now […]

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Featured Identity Privilege Race

Racism is no monkey business: comedians on race

Racism Loyiso Madinga

Racism is no monkey business, but after the racism debacles of January 2016, we could all do with some comic relief. And we tried to find it! We approached a bunch of comedians to talk about race, Mandela’s vision and whether our country could ever move past the race debate. Their answers were not so funny. Goolam Hassen reports. […]

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Featured Identity Uncategorized

“Love has no colour, why does hate?”

Lisa with her friend Daina

Racism has taken over our hearts and minds. While this complex beast lurks in our streets, workplaces and in the corridors of our social media platforms, we take a look at interracial adoption for a more nuanced understanding around the issue. Lisa Sofute, 23, was adopted at the age of 10. Her biological mother, Joyce Sofute died […]

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Featured Identity Uncategorized

In the world of a 3-year-old, race was non-existent

Amber-Rose with her mom where love sees no colour

“Same, Same,” said Amber-Rose pointing at her dad’s forehead and hers when she heard me asked what they would tell her if one day she asked why was she different. I was surely surprised that the little girl was listening to me while I loaded her parents with questions. And what a beautiful response she gave. In […]

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Privilege Race

Children learn about race from the state of their classrooms

IOL racism school

Children might not have the language about race, but they do have the language about what they do not have, says Equal Education’s Tshepo Motsepe. South Africa is now a country that services three types of people. At first, there were two: if you were black, you knew where you were supposed to be. Everyone else […]

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