Us and them
I am of the opinion we are inclined to define ourselves, the space around us and where we belong. How we define these things is a construct of society, culture and a myriad of other factors.
For some strange reason during the course of this definition of self for some reason we focus more on the differences between us than the similarities; language, tribe, race, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, genealogy.
Difference is misunderstood and in turn we fear what we don’t understand from there it’s easy to hate what we fear and it’s difficult to turn away from a hateful path. Hate is like a plague we pass down to our children, their children’s children and their children’s children’s children creating a society of people who hate and fear without quite understanding why…
If a look at your history does not fill with either shame and or anger then you do not know your history well…
Racism has been age old problem there from hundreds of years before I was born and still now its tentacles permeate across the fabric of our society.
The Colourism Issue where people bleach their skin to be lighter skinned in part stems from the racial bias where black is ugly and beauty is in fairer lighter coloured skin just like how people would abandon their mother language to speak the civilised more educated English language of the Imperial colonisers.
Before the liberation of Zimbabwe, Rhodesia as Zimbabwe was a racially segregated land meaning the land was divided into places for whites only, suburbs, buildings, restaurants, schools and blacks who were the natives were second class citizens without a right to vote.
Recently I learnt a curious fact from a conversation with an elderly uncle, how that Right of Admission is Reserved sign, one sees commonly displayed on entrances of some establishments is a remnant of the racial colonial times.
Back in those times the world had started frowning upon the blatantly segregatory apartheid regime in South Africa and it was a tad bit tacky to display a sign that showed blacks were not allowed so instead Right of Admission Was Reserved which meant that someone would discretely tell you, you were not allowed inside for some reason or other and not spell out its because of your race.
As my uncle was explaining this, he told me the story of how he had once been kicked out from a prominent hotel in the city, the very place we were now sitting, enjoying a round of sun-downer evening cocktails that a man such as himself would have been arrested for back in the day… how times have changed he marvelled.
A trauma of years of racial segregation is not easy to wipe away even when you call a nation a rainbow nation. The children of the oppressors carry with them the guilt of their ancestors while the children of the oppressed still carry the anger of their forebearers, what a fell gathering, is it surprising that racism exists still?
Be proud of who you, skin colour and all but of course when people tell you to be who you are they proceed to judge you and tell you how you cant be like that
According to the constitution of Zimbabwe homosexuality is a crime. I must say I have always wondered how this law is enforced if the government department that goes about peeping into people’s private lives. I have seen Christians violently speaking against homosexuality calling it unGodly and its pretty much a sensitive subject yet again I keep thinking I thought we should leave judgement to the Lord, let he without sin cast the first stone…
The differences between us not only separate us they are what make us unique and I hope one day we will be celebrate each other’s differences like children at play
~B
Photocredit: the girl on the bench Peter Magubane in The Guardian
Becoming The Muse 
This! “If a look at your history does not fill with either shame and or anger then you do not know your history well…”
I decided to read a PhD thesis from 1951 (Anthropology) and was amused the author was proud he used statistical methods to compare the physical features of Tswana-Sotho against the Zulu-Xhosa Bantu. Meanwhile, if he had read research of archeologists he would have notes they found evidence of Tswanas living in Zimbabwe mixing with the Zezuru (pre500AD) before going south mixing with the San and Khoi near the Drakensberg before a breakaway moving to the Eastern coast of South Africa to mix with the Xhosa (Pre1500AD).
Anyway, I am ashamed that Batswana took the people they found in South Africa as lower castes or servants through subdue or conquest. Even now I grew up hearing,
‘you have no manners you are a Mokgalagadi (people who lived in South Africa before my people)’
or
‘you MoLala (clan of Kalahari dwellers) you are uncultured! Disrespectful!’
The reason Batswana moved to the Eastern Cape was because a chief married a San and the son was refused to rule because he was a half caste. He left with his followers. Imagine that, they rejected him for being half San. Xenophobic racist b***ards my ancestors were!
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After the last string of xenophobic violence I remember reading something I found profound on how we are all immigrants, sometimes we forget that…
~B
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True
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PS. What do you do besides blogging!!!? :p
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I will not dignify that with a response, oh wait, that was a response damn lol
~B
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Laughing!!
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I have mixed feelings on that.
First of all, I cannot be ashamed of history, because I was not there. Are you ashamed because another person murdered someone? Why would you if it had nothing to do with you. We are only able to act NOW. We cannot change yesterday, but we can help shape the future.
Second of all, I do not understand what people mean when they say that hate is inspired by fear, which is born due to differences. I don’t follow any of the links in this chain. We ARE different. There is no denying it. Have you ever read a post/ comment by someone who says that no one understands them? That they feel alone? It’s because we aren’t all the same. It’s because we do differ in more than just the visible ways. You can be weary about the unknown, but you don’t hate it. You can hate others, but that is because you do know them. Because you don’t like who they are. Not because you fear them.
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Interesting views ♥♥♥
We cannot change the past but we can shape the future … this is some deep food for thought.
We are as diverse as we are unique ♥♥♥
I have seen hate spawned from the unknown, hatred of a whole tribe of people because their ways are alien to you and their language is harsh to one’s ears and i have seen xenophobic violence started because people feel threatened by immigrants that they will take their jobs and their “women”
it might not be a chain that happens all the time but in some circumstances the chain of fear and hate is a reality
~B
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Do you actually get arrested for being gay in Zim?
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You dont get arrested for being GAY but you get arrested for sodomy which is illegal according to the constitution so its pretty weird actually it means you dont face legal problems for being lesbian but being gay toes a fine line
~B
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Oh wow, I thought the same went for being lesbian too. If only law enforcement focussed on corruption instead of sexual preferences🤔
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Misplaced priorities if you ask me
~B
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