The politically correct answer to Steve Sidley’s question is, Of Course You Are, Silly!  More tea and jam with those croissants? 

But politically correct answers are like placebos for Ebola patients, plasters for gunshot wounds, or, to cite a more scandalous comparison, like 1994 rainbowism for apartheid’s aftermath.

While I liked Sidley’s article, I would have preferred one titled This Is What I, As A White Person, Am Prepared to Do About Structural Racism and Inequality.  Or Why Aren’t More White Businessmen Concerned About Structural Racism and Inequality?  Sidley has probably addressed these topics, but what surprises me how much traction this piece got.

But of course.  The question conveniently implies we (black people) have the power to decide white people’s fate and were always ready to use it violently.  It conveniently underplays how much economic power white people hold.  So this is not about accountability; it’s about victimhood.  I submit this is why its resonated.

It is glorified abdication of social…

Outside the Orbit: clearing the shattered glass

The Orbit had its front window smashed on Friday night. Whether by protestors with a defined purpose (though it’s hard to fathom what), opportunistic demagogues and provocateurs, or a bunch of drunken thugs joining what they perceived to be the “fun”, it’s hard to know. All the vandalism has achieved is to rob musicians and service workers of a few days’ decent gigging, and a struggling club of resources.

During the mayhem, the Orbit still willingly sheltered students injured by or terrified of police weapons; it cares about its community. The attack has silenced for a while one of Joburg’s “small pockets of cool” (the phrase is tenorist Shabaka Hutchings’) – a place where the cultural discourse regularly runs counter to the prevailing smug complacency and abdication of responsibility.

The view from inside the Orbit as an SABC van burns outside

Not, I’d…