MyPE

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Don’t Confuse Racism and Respect

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It just so happens the bombardment of bite sized ‘nuggets’ of information one sees screaming past on the Ex-Twitter timeline does numb your brain and reactions.

Unfortunately when one reacts it is normally in a negative, judging and/or condecending manner. We very seldom take the time to think about what the proper response would be and are almost always guided by our ‘learned’ response rooted in deep fear of being called out as a bully or, in South Africa’s case, as a racist.

Yesterday I saw an Ek Se (tweet) that went something along these lines; “Today my new domestic asked me which cups and plates she could use for her food and drink. Shame on my new domestic’s previous employer for being racist.” [Unfortuanetly I cannot find the exact tweet again so have paraphrased just a little.]

Now, the knee jerk reaction would be to immediately agree without closely examining the broader context and, in a lot of the examples of such ‘cup and plate’ behaviour it would be correct to judge and point out that in the past many domestics were given enamel exclusive use cups and plates and a spoon to eat and drink from/with.

BUT, in the broader context it could also just be the domestic seeking guidance from her new employer as to which cups and plates are the ones designated for daily use by the entire family IN CONTRAST TO which cups and plates and silverware are kept for dinner parties and guests.

What we who employ domestics forget is that in order to afford their services we earn far more than what they do and have the luxury of having many sets of dinner and silverware that we are able to bring out for dinner parties and honoured guests. Often our domestics, in their own homes, only possess a signle cup, plate and spoon for each family member.

So, maybe the question by the domestic was an entirely innocent one out of respect and shouldn’t have been followed by an attention seeking, misinformed, context lacking knee jerk racist tweet to the entire world!

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.