Two posts worth your time

Two must-read posts:

Sokari Ekine offers a roundup of posts around the African blogosphere reflecting on the persistence of racism and the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. She’s especially concerned that nations that have made some racial progress – Brazil, France, the US – now seem to believe they’re color-blind and immune to racial prejudice. Very much worth a read, and some serious time thinking about a response. An excerpt:

I have been in the US for the past 3 weeks, in South Florida. When I arrived I started counting the number of vehicles with Confederate Flag bumper stickers – I have now given up as there are so many. As one African American said to me – if you fly the confederate flag you are telling me you are a racist. White Americans have created a myth and bought the line that this is a “colour blind” society but I don’t buy that and I do not believe the vast majority of African Americans buy it either. I have lived in the US (Georgia) for 5 years and visited a number of times and I am yet to meet an African American who has not experienced racism or who believes s/he is “judged, not by the colour of our skin, but by the content of our character” (MLK) Racism has been called the “fault line” of America which could explode at any time. The aftermath of the Katrina hurricane was both a warning and a reminder of this possibility.

Mental Acrobatics was inspired by a post by Keguro on domestic violence to write a post called “Disgrace”, where he talks about the responsibility all men have for violence against women:

As a man I feel disgrace that on what is essentially my watch, i.e. in my years of manhood, it has become more dangerous for women to be women in our cities, in our towns, in our villages, in our homes. Rape, beatings, domestic violence on the increase.

As a man I feel disgrace that on my watch, in my years on manhood, a woman can be stripped naked in our capital city simply because some other men do not like what she is wearing…

It is a failure of our manhood that this can and is happening in our society. Heck it is a failure of my manhood. It is a simple as that. I do not care if society globally is getting more violent, that is not an excuse. If more men are beating women in our society then that is a failure of manhood in our society…

Again, it’s very much worth your time to read the post. He’s got me thinking about questions about what I’m responsible for, whether the issue is racism, violence against women, or any other injustice. Thanks for the posts, friends.