“It was the last day of school, and I was walking with my dad, preparing to leave. Suddenly, he paused, looked at me intently and said, ‘Son, you’re a black male, and that’s two strikes against you.’ To the general public, anything that I did would be perceived as malicious and deserving of severe punishment and I had to govern myself accordingly. I was seven years old.“- Robert Stephens

The other night I was looking at my son, while he was sleeping and my thoughts drifted to…… “Does he know what awaits him as a black man?” “Does he know what awaits him as a black child?” And this applies to my daughter too! (Although she is growing up in a household where we discuss such and expose it to her) She is still a black child growing in a country or a world that rejects her! In 2015 nogal…..eish! Ja neh….

These thoughts got me thinking about my son’s friends, different races and ages! And it got me thinking about their parents….Us as parents! Why do we teach our kids to hate one another and fear one another? *that was the lingering thought* I mean these kids are integrated at pre-primary till high school but varsity becomes a different world!!! Do you know how saddened I was by the Luister video? And you get people who go and say “integration can’t be forced” They’re right though, but we should live in a world and country that encourages it! We can’t have teens *as these kids are in varsity, as an average 1^styear is 18* who walk around with prejudice and hate! What kinda world are we creating?

I will direct this at white parents: The quest of integration should be encouraged by you! No, I did not make a mistake or did not stutter *you can’t stutter while writing* All these thoughts led me to that conclusion! Let me explain why: My generation is clearly not my parents’ generation! *Sure Sherlock, follow my train of thought for a minute…I promise I am headed somewhere* we are the generation that truly believe#Blacklivesmatter, the generation that believe in #Blackexcellence being celebrated and being attainable! We are the generation that have #Blackpride and we are the generation teaching our kids to hold their heads high like the queens and kings they are *In a nutshell, we are a generation that have zero fucks to give about white comfortability* WE ARE NOT HERE TO PERPETUATE WHITE SUPREMACY?! But we are here to squash it! Remember we went to school with you? We have worked with you? We know you! We know that under all that veneer, it’s just blood and bones! What separates whiteness from blackness has been opportunity! We are human *we breath, we eat, we shit, we die!* and we are the true descendants of Biko! *I say this because my humble opinion is our parents could not fully embrace what Biko was about, having never properly shared living spaces with white people! *

Our kids will not entertain ideas of them being lower than their white peers and they will not beg white people for acceptance *they will keep it moving* And I worry for the white child, imagine getting to grips with a world where you are not the holy grail you have been raised to think you are! So, why do their parents, who are the same generation as mine, continue to do it? Why teach your kids racism? *Please spare me with the reverse racism bullshit and accept your former privilege!* According to Policymic by 2050 “We’ll have Tindered, OKCupid-ed and otherwise sexed ourselves into one giant amalgamated mega-race.” And National Geographic wanted to find out what this amalgamated mega race human being might look like…….lo and behold!The question in I have is, why are you under preparing your kids for the future? Why are you not just teaching them to embrace other cultures and human beings? We will still be alive by 2050 *hopefully, great diet, health, God and all*. According to STATS SA, life expectancy at birth stands at 61 years in South Africa and that’s for the average South African. Things like the issues depicted in the Luister video about Stellenbosch should not be happening, UOFS racism shouldn’t be happening! YOU ARE STUNTING YOUR KIDS and for what?Do you know Affirmative action would not be necessary if it were not for you? *let that sink in! and mellow over it and own it!* Your prejudice necessitates it! I read an interesting comment from some white contributor to the now closed News24 opinion section “Why are white South Africans so afraid of integration? Why do they want some people kept out? I mean if they believe they’re a better species they should then allow for equality and want it, coz then process of elimination will ensure the weaker remain behind?”Teach your kids to stand out by their character, by their values and by their abilities! Not by thinking less of other humans! *standing out based on race and colour is such a primitive and idiotic fallacy* I am not raising my kids to soothe white egos, I am sorry! I am teaching my kids to be part of the world! I am teaching my kids to love themselves and their fellow human beings! I am teaching my kids to respect themselves and the people they inhabit this earth with and I am teaching them to know without a shadow of a doubt -THEY MATTER! #Period

Article By Nthabiseng Lucia Tselapedi

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