Monday, September 17, 2007
at
4:08 AM
|
“And the truth shall set you free”
Today, I stand before all and confess that I am a homophobe! The world is changing fast and it’s getting more and more difficult to keep up. Growing up, there was mom and dad. Hell in fact, there was Black mom and Black dad or White mom and White dad. Today of course, anything is up. There Black dad and White dad raising kids or Indian dad with Nigerian black mom. School governing body meetings are getting interesting. For a while, I’ve always been cool with my homophobia. However, I’ve recently started asking myself some questions. No! Not that question. I’m quite comfortable in my own sexuality.
Currently its quite acceptable to sit with the boys on a Saturday afternoon watching soccer, and when a player makes a stuff up, someone will shout out “You bloody queer!” or something worse. Listening to President Mbeki last week talking about Steve Biko as well as watching the current South African political play unfold, my current anti-gay views started resonating with old day racism. We all know a true measure of a person is a man’s heart and the positive contributions of his actions. Not who he shags (or shagged by). Racism was founded on similar principles back in the day. They are darker than us, so they must dumber than us. Obvious hey. Discrimination followed this where those in majority sought to tell black people, how and where they could live out their lives. All under the protection of our values and culture rule. What got me thinking a lot about this, is when I hear white people today condemn racism. Yet we know that not too long ago, every second white person used the word “Kaffir and boy” interchangeably with black people, their dogs etc. Where all those white people now? Did they disappear, immigrate perhaps? Are they in hiding? No. They are the same people we sit with today and condemn racism. The change in society has helped a lot of people change. People who wouldn’t let their kids hang out with black kids (let alone date), people who wouldn’t associate with black people and all found it acceptable to use certain words.
And those who have not converted are continuously alienating themselves from society and their children. The children of today don’t understand why dad hates people who are darker than him. They go to school with black kids and know that they aren’t all criminals or stupid. And this of course goes visa versa for black oldies. You are not relevant these days if you are openly racist. Shit, if you white and use the “K” word, you run the risk of other white people kicking your ass.
The transition was weird at first, but it became more and more acceptable and then law accelerated things forward and now open racism is not allowed. (Whether subtle racism is dead, is a blog for another day). So, is this where this gay rights situation is going? In that case, I need to transform quickly. To be honest there are sign everywhere. Notice how every series on TV now has a gay character? Not only that, he becomes the favourite character and people love it. It’s no longer disgusting to see gay people on TV. You are the disgusting and backward one if you have a problem with it. This is hard coz growing up we were taught to hate gay people and now one might be your boss or your son’s boyfriend in the future. It’s a fight I cant win, so I’m working on appreciating all people as equal and observing people’s rights to be who they want to be.
Today, I stand before all and confess that I am a homophobe! The world is changing fast and it’s getting more and more difficult to keep up. Growing up, there was mom and dad. Hell in fact, there was Black mom and Black dad or White mom and White dad. Today of course, anything is up. There Black dad and White dad raising kids or Indian dad with Nigerian black mom. School governing body meetings are getting interesting. For a while, I’ve always been cool with my homophobia. However, I’ve recently started asking myself some questions. No! Not that question. I’m quite comfortable in my own sexuality.
Currently its quite acceptable to sit with the boys on a Saturday afternoon watching soccer, and when a player makes a stuff up, someone will shout out “You bloody queer!” or something worse. Listening to President Mbeki last week talking about Steve Biko as well as watching the current South African political play unfold, my current anti-gay views started resonating with old day racism. We all know a true measure of a person is a man’s heart and the positive contributions of his actions. Not who he shags (or shagged by). Racism was founded on similar principles back in the day. They are darker than us, so they must dumber than us. Obvious hey. Discrimination followed this where those in majority sought to tell black people, how and where they could live out their lives. All under the protection of our values and culture rule. What got me thinking a lot about this, is when I hear white people today condemn racism. Yet we know that not too long ago, every second white person used the word “Kaffir and boy” interchangeably with black people, their dogs etc. Where all those white people now? Did they disappear, immigrate perhaps? Are they in hiding? No. They are the same people we sit with today and condemn racism. The change in society has helped a lot of people change. People who wouldn’t let their kids hang out with black kids (let alone date), people who wouldn’t associate with black people and all found it acceptable to use certain words.
And those who have not converted are continuously alienating themselves from society and their children. The children of today don’t understand why dad hates people who are darker than him. They go to school with black kids and know that they aren’t all criminals or stupid. And this of course goes visa versa for black oldies. You are not relevant these days if you are openly racist. Shit, if you white and use the “K” word, you run the risk of other white people kicking your ass.
The transition was weird at first, but it became more and more acceptable and then law accelerated things forward and now open racism is not allowed. (Whether subtle racism is dead, is a blog for another day). So, is this where this gay rights situation is going? In that case, I need to transform quickly. To be honest there are sign everywhere. Notice how every series on TV now has a gay character? Not only that, he becomes the favourite character and people love it. It’s no longer disgusting to see gay people on TV. You are the disgusting and backward one if you have a problem with it. This is hard coz growing up we were taught to hate gay people and now one might be your boss or your son’s boyfriend in the future. It’s a fight I cant win, so I’m working on appreciating all people as equal and observing people’s rights to be who they want to be.
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