MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

White South Africa – #RaceFreeMonth

By

February has been declared Race Free Month and every day in February we at MyPE will be combating the subtle racist nuances that hamper our thinking, cloud our judgement, restrict our development and increase the tension in South Africa.

Over on Reddit.com a topic, White South Africa, started by someone using the username, thaboSuarez, has been receiving a fair amount of attention with 123 comments.

Some of the utterances by ‘thaboSuarez’ include:

  • I guess the new south Africa from a white eye might be terrible but from a black guy this is heaven.
  • Some of my cousins will never ever dream of the life I’m living cause they were brought up in a more disadvantaged environment.
  • The fact that you can be rich as the next white guy is amazing, even America struggles with that at times.
  • You guys complain about load shedding, but it’s literally the first time for some blacks to receive electricity.
  • You guys think we hate you…..no we don’t , we just hate the fact that we are struggling in our own country.
  • I love the fact that SA has been blessed with whites cause every black guy here in our country knows that we wouldn’t be so progressive without you guys.

The comments start off normal enough and slowly change (like News24 comments used to) until eventually thaboSuarez gets called out by Clareth_GIF with a comment saying; “You are not black“. From then on the positive sentiments disappear and opinions on the state of ‘blackness’ or ‘whiteness’ take centre stage.

If credibility on Reddit is solely based on activity then Clareth_GIF with a Reddit ‘link karma’ of 2 161 and a ‘comment karma’ of 392 beats thaboSuarez with a single ‘link karma’ hands down.

BUT, isn’t that what we are all about? The most excellent person for the job and not the colour of a persons skin? So why all the fighting in the comments section?

Sign the Pledge to go Race Free.

Related: February 2016 Race Free Month Articles

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profileMy Flickr profileMy Pinterest profile

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.