Engaging with race is an unforgiving affair, however one approaches it, writes Michael Morris. If embracing it can be, and perhaps always is, tainting – as it flirts with the fiction of difference – seeming to disown it, in the sense of pretending it is unaffecting, is surely delusional, as it overlooks the power and […]
Debates around race and its role in undoing the ‘rainbowism’ of our early democratic era have attracted much attention of late. It is not surprising. What is baffling though is how the bigotry of an East Coast realtor would be the straw that would break the proverbial camel’s back and set social media and society […]
Janet Smith spoke to Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State, about how to raise a non-racial child. 1. I don’t agree with this view, that racism is entirely a consequence of economic inequality. In that case, you’d have to explain middle class American racism. It is importantly a function […]
As we approach municipal elections and the likely attendant bad behaviour from the competing parties, measures to combat racism take on new urgency, writes Ryland Fisher. It was an honour to attend the launch on Thursday of the Racism Stops With Me campaign, which is supported by Independent Media and a few partners. It was […]
In a world that is anti-black, anti-women, anti-poor, you are most likely to live with your guard up. Yes. Life is hard when you’re a woman. I want to look at how society has played a major role in our lives and how my subconscious is also conditioned. Making my way to the For Black […]
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 […]
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. […]
It’s been nearly two years since Kiné Dineo Mokwena-Kessi’s column “Black in Cape Town? Brace yourself” was published on IOL and in the Cape Argus and sparked a backlash that eventually saw comments being closed on the IOL website. We spoke to Kiné , who is now based in the UK. How do you feel about what happened? […]
Shafiq Morton More than 300 years of colonialism and four decades of apartheid can’t simply be airbrushed out of our collective psyche, writes Shafiq Morton. Racism – as defined by the UN in 1966 – is discrimination against another person on the basis of their race, or an event that reduces human dignity through actions […]
On the morning of June 8, 1988, dozens of children from Washington DC schools spread out across the well-manicured lawns of the US Capitol. Holding hands, the pupils walked one by one into the domed building. This was no ordinary field trip. The children weren’t there just for a civic lesson; they were also there […]