I’ll probably lose friends over this but…

…that’s your choice and I’m willing to write it anyway.

I love my country. It’s a melting pot. And, lately, something tangible is challenging our comfort. The veneer of the Rainbow Nation is sufficiently worn and the cracks are starting to show. Something is tarnished.

[Stop getting excited. Sit down. Put that banner away. I’m not talking about corruption or Nkandla.]

White people have — in my opinion— either moved nowhere or backwards.

Let me explain.

• I see more guarding of territory than ever before; “protest if you want but don’t infringe on my rights”. Why’s that? do you wear blinkers? Can you not see? Something is broken. Something here is raging against everything that is just. It’s simply not good enough to live between comfort’s four walls anymore. That is not the real world.
• I see more subtle racist attitudes surfacing. It’s almost as if blatant bigotry is frowned upon but racism in the guise of jokes (like those about our president’s counting skills), memes, uninformed criticism and sensational headlines is ok. Actually, just like a spade is not a shovel, Racism is Racism. None of it is ok.
• I have experienced more knee-jerking than ever before. No listening, just shooting from the hip. Bang. You’re dead; I’m right; STFU! This unwillingness to listen troubles me more than anything else. For me, it is simply a sign of the endemic hegemony to which whites feel entitled.
• I have witnessed an increasing inability to acknowledge that pigment is synonymous with privilege. This is the hardest journey for whites. But it’s ok. You lose nothing by acknowledging that the colour of your skin has given you a platform that others do not have. In fact, by doing so, you gain so much more.
• More and more, it seems like people are finding comfort in sameness, rather than celebration in diversity.

Ultimately, white people need to stop being afraid of difference and afraid of change. We have to develop larger ears and more maleable hearts. We have to press into uncomfortable spaces and push beyond our contentment. We have to teach our children to be better at this than we are.

Stop hearing what you’ve been indoctrinated to assume and listen to what people are really saying.