We are in the third quarter of 2018 and I have to say that this decade has largely witnessed a positive wave in the way blackness is perceived in the media. I was born in the 90s and when I grew up, there were few representations of black people in all types of mediums. Of course, back then we had Alicia Keys in her cornrows, and Halle Berry and Destiny’s Child in the mainstream scene, but my peers and I grew up playing with white dolls and associated beauty with straight blond hair and light skin as opposed to our 4c textured Afros and dark complexions. We rarely saw a Lupita Nyong’o on a blockbuster movie or a Maria Borges on the cover of a magazine. We did, however, see a Naomi Campbell, black womxn with skin like ours but with hair extensions so slick, long and different from our kinks. Now things have changed to open room for the representation of all demographics. The paradigm has shifted and black people have reclaimed their worth, presenting it to everyone whether they are interested or not.
It’s about time we saw the world moving out of the way [and if not willing, pushed out of the way] for black people to appreciate and share their culture, beauty and art. In mainstream pop culture, Beyoncé released Lemonade in 2016, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty and Ryan Coogler brought Black Panther to our cinemas. I am also proud to have seen black womxn being inspired to break prejudicial gender roles by the movie Hidden Figures which showcases the work of super cool black femxle mathematicians and engineers working for NASA during the Space Race in the 1960s. It took a long time for our 20th century geniuses to be widely known and celebrated, but it happened. In this decade!
In South Africa, womxn took a stand celebrating Winnie Mandela after her death in April through the hashtags #Iamwinnie and #shehasmultiplied which meant that they would continue her struggle and what she believed in; that her death was not the end of an era but a multiplication of who she was through the womxn left behind. Most importantly, [something that hits close to home] the University of Cape Town appointed Mamokgethi Phakeng as the new Vice Chancellor of the institution. Yes, she’s a WOMXN and yes she’s black, honey!
Now that the decade is almost close to an end, it is safe to say that a lot of history has been made in the 2010’s. This doesn’t mean that the work preceding this decade by noted people of influence is insignificant because it definitely is. People in the past fought big battles that we could never dare endure today. Battles for freedom, to end slavery, fight against colonisation, apartheid, you name it. I am talking about this decade specifically because I’ve seen it unravel. I’m witnessing change right before my eyes and I’m living in it. I’m a part of it.
There was never a time in my life when I was so proud to be black than I am now. Although we are still not where we should be as black people, [especially black womxn] a lot of ground has been covered. What I mean by this is that although we have come a long way from slavery and colonisation, racial/gender inequality and gender-based violence is still felt in many parts of the world. As a black womxn, I feel so proud of how much has been achieved in bringing us to the foreground through the recognition we have been receiving lately [that has long been overdue] but at the same time I long for what lies ahead in the horizon, a world with no #metoo, #menaretrash or the need for #blacklivesmatter. A world where we don’t have to work so hard to make our humanity felt and have the need to tell the world that we matter.
In a seminar on race and representation, I remember someone mentioning that they felt like the fight against apartheid in South Africa was more focussed on obtaining racial equality first and gender equality later. I didn’t understand the point until it was explained: this strategy for freedom was wrong because equality is equality. Period! It is one entity, there is no “equal but…” and it should not be divided into fragments. I believe that the world is slowly but surely moving towards a positive society, one which appreciates diversity in all its form. Where things such as racial and gender inequality are locked in the past. Where coming generations will read our history and be as perplexed at violence against womxn and children and at racial discrimination as much as we are astounded at the audacity of slavery, colonisation and apartheid.
Intersectionality
Interconnectedness or interrelation of multiple identities & experiences and how these identities & experiences relate to power & social-structural oppressions. For example, a black femxle immigrant from a working class family is oppressed in accordance with all the categories that define her. These categories/subjectivities are relational. One has meaning only in relation to the other – race and gender, for example. There is no single subjectivity that can describe our response to social environment or the environment’s response to us as individuals.