There is a very real demonisation of Blackfullas who dare answer the question of yes with a no, as though it is we who are betraying our people
Another Day in the Colony
The saving grace is the occasional writers’ festivals where I get to be considered an actual writer, as a thinker. Not just about race, but to be seen as capable of thinking about the world, much like white authors of fiction and poetry are able to. I enjoy the freedom of being able to speak on running, humour, the craft of writing and you know, just being human.
And then after some appearances I still hated that question, because I remember a senior Black academic at a writers’ festival berating me and any other Blackfullas who dared express scepticism, for not having viewed the“You haven’t done the readings,” the Black experts insisted.
American social reformer Frederick Douglass’ seminal speech, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress” speaks to the dangers of a philosophy of reform, divorced from struggle. The yes campaign, in its strategy, reveals the very real dangers associated with enshrining a voice to parliament. To enshrine a voice that in this moment is silencing and domesticating the diverse voices of sovereign Black nations across this continent offers more concern than it does hope for the future.
If those yes vote evangelists are as committed as they say they are to us having a voice, then Blackfullas should be able to express what we think, we feel and know – with or without the readings, law degrees, children’s books or whatever.
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