MyPE

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So what if the Springbok Captain is a Black Man?

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Let me get the uncomfortable stuff out of the way first – Claire and I went to Zwide intending to watch the game there BUT the gees at the Zwide Stadium and Lunga General Jazz (PRIOR to the game) was completely lacking. Added to that it was a first time for Claire and I decided to head off somewhere else where we would feel part of the game – Sorry Mike, we really tried!

But back to this White Man / Black Man narrative.

If I see one more post or remark about how awesome it is to have a Black Man as Captain of our 2019 Rugby World Cup Champions I am seriously going to PUKE.

I am sure that Siya identifies himself as a South African First, Rugby Player Second, Grey Boy Third OR maybe as a man/father/husband/son first second or third and only as a Black Man when some fucking idiot reminds him.

I do NOT wake up in the morning and thank some white chap who parked off on a cross for a bit for being a White Man. I wake up in the morning and thank myself for being alive, awake, in love and a fully contributing human being. Never does the colour of my skin become part of my narrative.

Then why, for the sake of all our imaginary friends in the sky, do some of us have the crassness to label other people according to the colour of their skin and say it like they have condescendingly allowed darker skinned South Africans to rise to the greatness of WHITE PEOPLE or say it like lighter skinned South Africans  are SHIT and NOT WELCOME?

South Africa has won the Rugby World Cup THREE times since unity – let’s focus on what a powerhouse our team is, let’s thank them first of all for being South Africans (not bloody imports like in the England Team), incredible rugby players, for giving our country HOPE and, in Siya’s case, for being from Zwide, Port Elizabeth and an ex Grey School boy.

Stop buying into the narrative that continually seeks to divide us and that allows our political nincompoops to control us – we are all South African FIRST.

It looks like Springbok Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus from Despatch said it better than me:

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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.