Racism is very much alive

‘The oppressor’s approach is aggressive, mainly because he is the most fearful. Yes, he fears the *oppresed* black man because it is, he who dominates the earth.’

The white man has castrated black people enough because of Black’s hunger for glamour and prestige, nowadays children of the soil talk black, they live white and think green. We have been conditioned to self-destruct. *To colonize a peoples’ mind you must first demonize their culture*, followed by their traditions.’

The thing with imperialism is, Imperialism uses religion to condition our way of thinking and living as children of the soil. Religion is a cultural understanding of religion. In order for us to reconstruct our way of thinking and to rid ourselves of the false image painted in our heads, a cultural revolution would be key- for if there is no cultural revolution then we must forget the idea of a political revolution. We should stand up and reconstruct the society. We at-least owe Chris Hani and Steve Biko that much.

One of our biggest weaknesses in Africa is in fact ‘Tribalism’, what we forget is the fact that imperialism does not attack based on your tribe but because of the resources on the land (your land). So tribalism must be kicked off the top of our buckets. In fact, Muamar Gadaffi, in his Green Book equals tribalism to class antagonisms. Tribalism feeds directly into the stomach of the imperialist and his capitalistic mode of life.

Secondly the sooner we accept the reality and identify with our true selves the better for all of us and future generations. As Assata Shakur would say: ‘No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history if they know that knowledge will help set you free’ Stop teaching your young to be like the white man so they too can succeed and start teaching them about their own capabilities and about the importance of embracing their true selves and not alienating themselves from their roots. It is the history they aren’t taught that needs to be told to them- sit your children down and school them about the system itself and who it is meant to benefit, the sooner the better. Rather have children of the soil who learn but question than to have a child of the soil mimicking the white man and forgetting their own thus throwing their fellow brothers and sisters under the bus for their own selfish desires and hunger for a false freedom promised to them by the system and its handlers. In fact, John Henry Clarke covered this phenomenon very well when he said, *The powerful cannot afford to educate the poor because once educated you will not ask for the power, you will take it*. Keep questioning, keep learning about your culture, above all else, remember that you as the oppressed, you are on your own, and therefore you have yourselves to unite and fight for the benefit of people of your color and human race in its entirety.

It is time we stopped viewing our own through the lens of the racist white man. *The time has come for children of the soil to stop criticising and judging one another according to the criteria drafted for us by the oppressor*- we all have our faults. It is time we viewed our fellow brothers and sisters of the soil beyond the image painted by the pain inflictors and slave makers. Black people have always resolved their challenges, even long before the formalized type of schooling was introduced. However, today in order for a black person to speak and be listened to, he will be viewed by the number and level of the school certificate he holds and not the quality of the argument he brings to the table. Formal education is great, but education is greater, no matter the lenses it is acquired.

Thirdly let me pump more fuel into the fire mainly by making this clear: ‘There is nothing wrong with removing the white man from your mind, we need to re-Africanise our mind, body and soul. We have failed to realize that white supremacy and racism remained and have advanced over the years’ and the ugly truth which is that slavery itself hasn’t ended but continues to be practiced and we are still victims of slavery. Our economy was in the hands of the white master during slavery and the economy is still in the hands of the white previlleged few today. Same rubbish, different dustbins.

Those of you who continue to sing the praises of the white man and continue to feast at the same table your own people are forced to set are no different from the inflictors of pain- you continue to parade as the heroes and ‘peace-makers’ whilst in actual fact you are also a part of the problem and it is because of you that we are where we are today, yes those who point fingers and shift the blame to fellow children of the soil for being hard headed and stubborn, how many more years do you think this your luxurious life will continue or have you forgotten that Racism may have started a long time ago but it never ended? Or is your head too full of false hopes and altered stories about your history to where you accept everything that is given to you and never question its accuracy?. The only relationship between light and darkness is when one has transformed into the other. So, should we then not think of you as complacent or perpetrators of racism? Betrayal is evil, betryal by your own is treasonous.

Ever since the beginning of democracy how many white ‘south Africans’ came forward and said they wanted to be a part of those who bring about a positive change in South Africa? Come to think of it, the white man in South Africa never went through punishment, you were never made to be held accountable for the atrocities committed by your people and your leaders instead we were rather too forgiving – stuff that akho lonto apha, the TRC may have worked in your favour but it sure as hell made no difference in the lives of those who were demonised by the apartheid government. Truth be told, white people have the incapacity to understand racism, because they enjoy the fruits of white privilege. In Tshivenda they say, *Asa shumi asingola* (those who do not work, should not eat). Then, how is it that we have delegated the black race to work the land and the white race to eat for free?, cry my beloved Africa.

In case you were wondering what racism is:

Racism is the exclusion of one group from the other one thw base of race, with the racist oppressing the other. However, it is more about power and economic harvesting. Therefore, the rise of blackness, is about historical redress.

White people need to be more thoughtful in the way they address children of the soil, about the racial oppression we experience-be mindful of those racist white people who disguise their racist slurs under the banner of ‘freedom of speech’. White supremists have mastered the art of manipulating our cries as children of the soil to fit their narrative-they would rather shift the blame onto us than to acknowledge their faults this disgusts me, truly speaking. I am not an Idi Dada Aminist, but on racism, I value his words, *Freedom of speech I can guarantee, but freedom after speech I cannot guarantee*. People’s rights to speech should be protected, its a freedom we should protect with our lives if needs be, but like all freedoms, people should be accountable for using this freedom to oppress others.

Just to clear the air on something really quick- it is highly impossible for a fellow child of the soil to be racist towards a white person in this day and age, racism is based on a system of oppression, centralization of power and resources to one class of race over the other. Though you can be discriminatory, rude or inconsiderate against white people.

The new form of racism is to deny the fact that it exists:

-Tolerating racism is racism!

-Stop pretending as if your racism is patriotism!

The pressure on children of the soil to stop talking about ‘racism’ continues to grow and rapidly so- meanwhile those who continue to practice racism are left alone. That alone is confirmation and proof that the system wants children of colour to keep quiet because they don’t want it to end.

You that claims to be tired of hearing the word ‘racism’ ring in your ears, have you ever imagined how tired we are as children of the soil from experiencing it?!

La Nkosi