Voice of the Cape
Upon deeper reflection of this week and all that has happened, I have to accept that mentally and emotionally, I am drained. As a coloured woman from Grassy Park, who has no firsthand encounters with gang violence and all that comes with this traumatising reality, I feel stripped of being entitled to feel raged and disappointed as a coloured woman trying to protect her people's stories. Even me, with the ability to write and access to these sensitive stories, do not feel entitled to sell my people's stories for a byline and British Pound in my bank account. In my silence, I sit with a heavy heart filled with disgust as I watched a woman and so-called "ally" for coloured people sit behind her network of journalists and newsroom people, attack a smart-conscious young woman who called her out for her inability to see the need to pass the damn mic to people on the Cape Flats. The tweets are horrendous and self-involved and detrimental to women of colour who are already plagued by the reality that their experiences only become valid, to the greater society, if a coloniser is telling it.
Yes, Haji Mohammed Dawjee, this is for you. Your inability to acknowledge constructive criticism caused a ripple effect and left me questioning whether my little agency as a free-thinker would be acknowledged against people like you who has these big platforms to occupy space with your words.
And while I'm regurgitating my hurt and disappointment, allow me to address a bigger Cape Town issue:
Do you know how many times, we coloured girls and boys from the Cape Flats hold our tongue? We have the words, we have the grammar, we have the lived experiences but we tread lightly out of concern for how it can impact the masses on the Cape Flats. Other than raking up views, likes and shares how does your content impact the people you claim to be an ally for, help them?
There are middle-classed circles in Cape Town who come into some wealth and fame and they use their newfound platform to claim that they are the Voice of the Cape. We don't need a voice, this so-called voice speaks and mingles in the coloniser spaces. Have you not seen the likes of Ashley Kriel and the capabilities of our people to fight for ourselves? These so-called voices of the Cape, we see you selling our traumatic stories for sponsorships. Get the government cheques mos while your POC brothers and sisters remain hostage under damaging labels. Labels and stereotypes that keep them confined to their homes and streets. How does seeing the same narrative of coloured people with guns help us humanise our brothers and sisters? The Cape Flats is made up of individuals with unique and beautiful stories to tell. Yet, we show the same picture of drugs and gang violence. Yes, I am not blind to the fact that it is a reality. Why not choose to show that we are thinking, caring and resilient people? But, those stories are not palatable for the ones who hold your cheque, right? The tides are changing, it's time to call out these people who monetise the struggles of POC. Intentions are seen and felt. If someone's portrayal of your neighbourhood makes you feel wrong, question them.
