Do Riots and Looting in the US Take Precedence

You focus on the tragedy of George Floyd but what about Collins Khosa?

I bet you never heard of him.

My head spins as I wonder what vortex I’m in where everybody’s talking…

Not of the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo or floods in Kenya or locusts in Somalia or the 20 people killed in jihadist attacks in western Niger two weeks ago.

Nor Collins Khosa, who was attacked and beaten by soldiers of the South African National Defence Force in his own home on 10 April (Good Friday) and died that evening. RIP.

The autopsy confirmed his death resulted from the assault; although the police are still investigating, the soldier who wielded the baton and other soldiers who watched, have last week been exonerated by the SANDF for any wrongdoing.

Everybody’s talking about George Floyd’s death. RIP.

I hear you. What happened is despicable, unacceptable and reflects the systemic racism still extant in your country. It’s wrong and needs to be corrected — through peaceful protest and political participation.

What maddens me is that injustices perpetrated in other countries don’t get the equivalent air time. Instead they sit in my head, weigh upon my heart. I want to tell everybody to shut the hell up and stop playing the race card as though it’s the only game in town.

The world won’t condemn South Africa. They’re still hanging on the coat tails of Mandela’s dream — fraying and fading after a quarter century. They’ll call out Duterte’s regime in the Philippines for its pursuit of lock down brutality, but he’s a saint by comparison.

Who could dare besmirch the legacy of Madiba?

The jackboots in my country have done worse than kill one black man

Another 11 black men apart from Collins Khosa have died at the hands of the security forces. And 230,000 people arrested and now endowed with criminal records for infringement of lockdown regulations.

(Cases as petty as not having a till slip to prove you bought those cigarettes before 27 March, the day on which the Command Council banned the sale of tobacco products.)

This video of a child being manhandled by traffic cops in Ballito Bay, north of Durban, went viral in early May in South Africa.

The cops were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Black on black, black on white, white on black, white on white — and every colour in between.

It’s not the skin tone but who holds the power.

Does the artist predict how each hue in their palette will behave once the oil paint meets the canvas and mingles with others? The artist holds the power of the brushstrokes to depict the behaviours and outcomes as the colours combine and the image emerges.

You may not want to hear this but let’s not stereotype or resort to pulling the victim vs privilege cards out of the deck as if they preordain our destiny.

Bullshit to that!

We can paint our own self-portrait.

Do you condemn every Jew for how Netanyahu and his government in Israel suppress the Palestinians?

Do you adjudge Islam in its entirety for the actions of jihadist extremists?

Yes, Black Lives Matter, but not only in the US.

Every single life matters — whatever our race, nationality, creed or culture.

You may ask why a country such as South Africa with a history of protests (and looting by criminal elements) has not poured into the streets during lock down. Regulations restrict our movement. Why incur the wrath of the tens of thousands of police and army personnel deployed throughout the land?

Added to which we do not want to place our fellow citizens at risk of contracting the virus. The high incidence of HIV and TB and the prevalence of poverty keep us vigilant.

But the time of reckoning will come. For now we record and write.

The other day our President apologised for the ‘over-enthusiasm’ of the security forces. What an inconceivable understatement! That doesn’t bring the dead back to life.

Arrest the perpetrators and throw them in jail and stop persecuting and prosecuting citizens for minor infractions.

We didn’t kill anyone.

Then the hypocrisy in Ramaphosa’s speech as current Chair of the African Union (AU) on Africa Day, Monday, 25 May,

“This Africa Day we are reminded once again that the solutions to Africa’s problems, be they overcoming disease or eradicating poverty and underdevelopment, reside within Africa itself.”

“The AU continues to guide and inspire us as we strive to build a better life for all of Africa’s people.”

Except if you’re a foreign national without papers or an asylum seeker. You can’t claim social relief — you are invisible and may starve to death, despite being an African brother or sister.

One too many days I want to punch someone. To rage and scream and say I had a dream that a common global enemy would bring out the best in us.

Then kick myself for being so naïve.

Bruised ego!

The power still rests with the suits in finance, government and big business while millions more across the globe lose their jobs, their homes, their livelihoods — their lives.

When and how will we take back our power?

I leave you with these reflections by Peter Joseph, independent film maker and activist:

“I spent the beginning of my focus on activism by doing what most everyone else was doing; blaming other people and institutions. Don’t like the war? Let’s blame the president, congress, or lobbyists. Don’t like ecological disregard? Let’s blame this or that corrupt corporation or some regulatory body for poor performance. Don’t like being poor and socially immobile? Let’s blame government coercion and interference in this free market utopia everyone keeps talking about.

The sobering truth of the matter is that the only thing to blame is the dynamic, causal unfolding of system expression itself on the cultural level. In other words, none of us create or do anything in isolation — it’s impossible. We are system-bound both physically and psychologically; a continuum. Therefore, our view of causality with respect to societal change can only be truly productive if we seek and source the most relevant sociological influences we can and begin to alter those effects from the root causes.”

His words encourage me not to throw a tantrum but take a deep breath and recalibrate.

I hope they will do the same for you.

Thank you for the inspiration Sherry McGuinn.

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