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  • Change is Imminent

    eatandbeawesome:

    Here’s some poetry I wrote, cuz I was boredddd. 

    Asalaam Alaikum wa rahmatullah

    Bismillah

    You’ll have to excuse me I developed this with a quick pace so allow me some space as I translate the case of the mistaken race and the warfare we face

    As a community wrought with disunity under constant scrutiny by our fearless enemies I feel the need to channel some energy and create some synergy

    The last time I spoke of a story, it was one of glory, about a man of authority, the goal was to shuffle your inventory, you see our lives have become oh so regulatory.

    In a constant state of reaction towards some illegal action, we’ve made ourselves a faction that serves as a distraction while the real villains roam with satisfaction

    You didn’t need to show me that Find Kony was a phony, yet society seems to own me, and my mind is so lonely without the media to control me and so,

    I resort to blogging on a social website about the battles I fight where on the same night I feel its my right to point out I’m right and the destruction I type on someone’s profile pic could make the Companions sick because im such a hypocrite.

    You ask me about change on a global range, while you hold the reigns and lead the campaign of delivering pains to those you claim to love without blame.

    You want rights brother, start respecting your mother.

    You want respect sister, stop flirting with that mister

    The key to revolution begins with evolution and dissolution of our primal confusion that requires a fusion of respect minus intrusion and a mental ablution so in CONCLUSION.

    Implement moderation with a desire for education for that is the foundation that leads to the equation for a united nation

    Change is Imminent

    I really enjoyed this on different levels and thought it worth sharing. 🙂

  • About Reverse Racism

    Thank you a thousand times over for that post. These race debates are doing my head in. I’m goffal/coloured from Zimbabwe, with family from SA, my dad was a freedom fighter. As stated in a previous post; the most discrimination I’ve faced has been from other ‘people of colour’. In the West white people might have privilege but in our countries? I don’t think so. (White farmers in Zim being killed, and ripped off their farms; where’s the privilege in that?)

    My sentiments exactly! People that pull the race card are too bloody cowardly or lazy to get out of their self-imposed limitations and brave a new approach to life other than the hatred and discrimination of the past. Even those that do still experience this absolutely must realise that it is actions of individuals and not race groups. Even if the group is of a predominant race, it is still the acts of individuals that speak on behalf of their demented group, and not an entire race.

    The entire debate about racial supremacy and privilege is a moot point. Oppression has long ceased on that basis and has, for a long time now, shifted to simply oppression of class and wealth, and nothing else. The colour of your skin only matters to people that are still influenced by the bigoted realities of the past. White supremacy may have established the slums and the informal settlements, but it certainly is not what is maintaining it.

    And those that still believe that it is an active force to be reckoned with are exactly the same ones that are abusing their authority to establish reverse racism in so many parts of the world. So at this rate, in a few years’ time, we’ll be talking about black privilege, and nothing would have changed except the reversal of the skin pigmentation of those enjoying the privileges.

  • White privilege and other bull

    I would normally ignore topics like this, but it’s been cluttering my dash, so here’s my penny’s worth, if anything.

    I think people that pull the race card are running low on logic. I come from South Africa so think carefully before you accuse me of being ignorant or naive about racial issues or racial tensions. I lived through apartheid in my early adult years, and I continue to live through the challenges of a post-apartheid era where reverse discrimination is the order of the day. 

    So for those that believe it’s about white privilege, consider this. If you come to South Africa, I’ll show you black privilege till it nauseates you. Go to India and I’ll show you brown privilege till it turns your stomach. Go to the trailer parks of America and I’ll challenge you to show me white privilege. It’s simple. People are as privileged as you allow them to be. This is especially true in the context of society rather than legislated privileges by government. 

    The apartheid government of South Africa was one of the last bastions of such racial stupidity that I am aware of, so anyone still feeling like they’re the victims of white privilege are in fact victims of their own victim-conscious mentality. If people of colour treat white people as if they’re special, then vent at the POC that do so, and don’t blame the whites for enjoying such elevated ‘hospitality’. That’s like saying that the current generation of white South Africans that were born after 1994 are still to be held accountable for the trespasses of the idiocy of the former generations. The logic is simply astoundingly stupid.

    It’s this same deranged mentality of ‘white privilege’ that feeds the slum-mentality of so many individuals of colour. A white person is not responsible for the moral decay of a black person, nor is a black person responsible for the opportunists that hide behind white privilege. When we stop playing the race card to feed our weakness that prevents us from acting outside of our stereotypical roles that society has endowed on us, that’s the day we’ll rise above the stupidity of attacking people just because they are recipients of unwarranted respect or admiration, rather than recognising that it is the pathetically submissive masses that have yet to rise above the effects of white dominance through the colonial years that are actually responsible for the effects of white privilege that we see today. 

    It requires an independent mind to treat an individual as an individual. When you lack such independent-minded thinking, you’ll hide behind whatever card will suit your fancy and camouflage your insecurities. Unfortunately that card is most convenient when it’s titled with the word ‘race’. 

    Edit: I am a person of colour. So I’m sorry to take away that convenience for any intended slanderous comments about my position on this as well. But I refuse to act according to the stereotypes that people have in their minds just so that I avoid the risk of being labelled an apologist or worse. It’s about individual merit, and nothing else. If you believe it’s about more than this, you’re paying attention to the wrong agenda.

  • It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad; and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent; but silence is better than idle words.

    Sahih Bukhari

  • The strangeness of the self-proclaimed strangers

    I sometimes think that it requires a healthy dose of arrogance and pompousness to assume that I am from amongst the strangers that Rasulullah (SAW) has referred to. There are so many that profess to be on this path, that if each were to be believed, it would render the endless debates on Tumblr null and void, especially if each were actually correct. 

    Sifting through the opinions and interpretations of numerous scholars, ulama, wannabe scholars and others makes such a quest even more difficult. That is, the quest of determining whether or not I’m on the right path. The principles of Islam and characteristics of one who is inspired by the Sunnah is visible in sincere adherents across many different schools of thought, and even sects.

    The arrogance and condescension of some in their chosen forms of propagation of their views generally dissuade me from taking advice or guidance from them, which is a shame. It’s a shame because there is so much good that could be overlooked or dismissed because of the unpalatable nature of the attitude of those that may actually be in possession of valuable and beneficial knowledge. 

    I sincerely hope that Allah accepts me amongst these ‘strangers’ that are of meritorious character. But trying to determine, in my lifetime, whether or not I am a part of this blessed group will probably be a self-indulgence that will most probably result in arrogance before it benefits me with humility. So I’d rather live with doubt about my affiliations, rather than delusions about my merits. 

  • Cultural Appropriation (cont.)

    coragem:

    This is for cynicallyjaded, who was interested in my views on cultural appropriation.

    I feel that the careless throwing around of the term cultural appropriation somewhat deligitimises it when it actually occurs. A non-native wearing Native American tribal headdresses and prancing around with facepaint on, or someone wearing a bindi with no regard for the meaning behind it; that is what I understand to be cultural appropriation, and when used in that context, then yes, it is a problem and it does happen.

    Cultural appropriation is so much more than someone simply wearing the clothes of another culture; or eating the food of another culture. I agree that imitation and appropriation are two completely different things; which it seems a lot of people on tumblr don’t understand.

    Now, the reason why I became annoyed with the term being thrown around, is because the things that were being said were along the lines of ‘white reverts and reverts in general feel cut off from their own cultures so they appropriate Arab culture and fetishise it.’ 

    I felt that that was offensive to reverts who are genuinely trying to follow Islam without any interference from culture. I just want people to think before they completely debase and alienate us reverts by making it out like we’re trying to steal everyone’s cultures. If you do meet a revert who you think is ‘appropriating Arab or Asian culture’, then why not speak to them about it, and give them naseeha, as opposed to making angry tumblr posts on the topic.

    If people want to take up a cause; why don’t we deal with the sheer amount of racism in the ummah? Or our Muslim brothers and sisters who are imprisoned? Or our brothers and sisters in other countries being tortured and oppressed. Just saying, there are bigger issues at hand here.

    (Anyway, cynicallyjaded, I generally agreed with the views expressed in your post.)

    I agree with your views as well. The part I missed in my post was when cultural traditions are used mockingly by others not of that culture. In that case, they’re just downright disrespectful, and again, would probably have a cultural void of their own, hence their need to legitimise their rootless stupidity by ridiculing the culture of others. 

    But if not done offensively, I find it difficult to imagine any good reason for someone to take exception to others adopting or even adapting their cultural practises to fill a need in their own life. Even cultures themselves have variations of practises and traditions within their own groups, Indians being a typical example. You have the Indian culture itself, and then you have the castes within the culture that have various permutations of how certain cultural practises are observed. 

    But for some, such variations are only allowed if you’re of the same racial or ethnic background, which is somewhat hypocritical (in my opinion), since that would tend towards racism or bigotry rather than a defence against cultural appropriation. 

  • Birds frolicking in the backyard.

    (c) Cynically Jaded

    Johannesburg, South Africa, January 2012

  • Cultural Appropriation

    cynicallyjaded:

    To me, it sounds like a desperate effort on the part of those with barely any roots to lay claim to a culture that they don’t understand, will probably never fully appreciate, will subscribe to selectively, and are using it purely as a tool to establish some sort of elitism because they lack any credibility elsewhere in their lives.

    Imitation is supposed to be the best compliment, so next time you see someone appropriating your culture, thank them. Their efforts will probably contribute more to the preservation of your cultural roots than your efforts to claim guardianship over something you probably had nothing to do with regarding its establishment.

    Of course, if someone is actively trying to alter the truth about the roots of a specific cultural practice, by all means correct them. But more often than not, the debates around this on Tumblr is about others practising some elements of a different culture that they don’t naturally belong to, and that is then misconstrued as appropriation. It’s not. It’s imitation or adoption, but not appropriation.

    In my mind, the Europeans going into Eastern lands, colonising it, destroying its historical records and recreating a new adulterated view about the sources of the knowledge and culture that they now claim to own, is cultural appropriation. Seems like most don’t understand the difference between imitation and appropriation.

    ap·pro·pri·a·tion/əˌprōprēˈāSHən/

    Noun:

    1. The action of taking something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission.
    2. The artistic practice or technique of reworking images from well-known paintings, photographs, etc., in one’s own work.

    This entire debate about cultural appropriation, especially within the context of this wonderful global village that everyone is always happy to celebrate and be a part of, is superfluous.