Here I am having to write this, having to fight for the right to say this, WE ARE AT WAR. War against prejudice, war against fascism, war against white supremacy. The same prejudice we have been taught to stand against, the same prejudice that created a World War, the same prejudice that is still raping the motherland, the same prejudice that has made so many of us refugees from our indoctrinated homeland.
Racism is not only physical violence like we see with the murder of George Floyd, racism is not only when football hooligans throw bananas at players, racism is a system, an ideology that is both conscious and subconscious. Racism is being followed around by the security guard in stores, racism is fetishisation, racism is misogynoir, racism is ethnic preference, racism is ignorance, racism is denial, racism is overt and violent language, racism is subtle and indirect, racism is silence, silence is complacency.
A racist is dressed in a white sheet holding a burning cross, a racist is your mother, father, sister, pastor, doctor, son, daughter, uncle, nan, neighbour, teacher. Racism you see is not something that is done by overt monsters or bad people, it is embedded in society, embedded deep in ideology, embedded in such a way that we happily assimilate entertainment culture and never question the racial uniformity in which that aesthetic relies on. It is so deeply embedded that when studios and offices are full of white faces you do not think anything is weird about that, racism is whiteness as normality.
Racism is the endless NPOs and flagship conservatoires leaving us in the cold.
Did Black lives not matter to you until George Floyd died? Why have you been so silent on racial inequality, why have you been so complacent, why have you been so comfortable doing the bare minimum? What have you been doing this whole time while the black artists of your community were being shunned to the sides? Why do artists continue to allow their work in non diverse line ups? Why do artists keep taking their work to venues that don’t know how to open up their doors for black artists? Why do you sit quietly when we are suffering? Preservation of Privilege. Preservation of White Supremacy, that is your normal that’s why you don’t question it.
We have been screaming BLACK LIVES MATTER for so long, for most of us we have been crying for this since we understood the world around us. My nephews are 12 and 13 years old and they are posting on social media “Black Lives Matter”, they are children, so I ask again why NPOs run by adults have been so silent for so long on the racial inequality that streams through your programmes, schools, staff, boards and associates.
I ask you what have you been doing this whole time?
Has white supremacy become so normal to you that you sustain it as a way of life? As a way of culture?
I was very recently told that if I want to see real change “sometimes you have to let your dreams die” I have to give up working with organisations and artists that perpetuate the problem. Are you willing to let your dreams die? Change your board? Change your programmes? Change your staff? Or is the change you speak of the change that means maintaining the same system guest featuring a black face or two?
I hope when the industry resumes it will have a better look at their strategies and position in dismantling racism.
You may not be racist yourself but what are you doing to stop it?
We see your silence, we see your performative allyship, we see your boards, we see your commissions, we see your preservation of privilege and we will NEVER FORGET.
My spirit is broken, my heart is aching and I am numb. I am fucking exhausted. This is not life, this pain I feel is unjust and cruel, you are with us or against us, there is no middle ground, not anymore. In Africa the Earth still smells of blood when it rains, it still has the European boot print. In Florida George Zimmerman is still free, in Britain Stephen Lawrence still has no outright justice. In this life my mother will never know a world free of racism, neither will I, and in this letter you will find no answers just my pain, just my tears, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
STOP DESTROYING OUR BODIES - STOP KILLING OUR SPIRIT.
No Black person should ever die at the hands of white supremacy, no Black person should ever have to become a martyr for you to deem us worthy.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
Best,
Bakani Pick-Up Ncube Thobela Malaba
(He/Him/Black)