In April 2017 activist @DanielleMuscato posed a hypothetical question for women on Twitter about the things they’d do if there were no men around in public after 9pm. A year later she asked the question again amid the sexual assault allegations levied again Brett Kavanaugh, a supreme court judge candidate in the US. Thousands of women replied. Clearly this idea resonated with the women on the twitterverse. One woman’s response sums up what I...
A collection of messages from across our congregations on the 8th of September in response to the crisis of Gender Based Violence. Sunday Message - by Julie Williams Sunday Message - by Andre Ntambwe Sunday Message - by Ryan TerMorshuizen Addressing the UCT GSB - by Paul Maughan Paul was invited to lead a final moment of response at the memorial of UCT student,...
We’ve all been there - the family dinner table, a friend’s braai; when someone we know and probably like, says something racist or prejudiced that stops us dead in our tracks. What do you do? What do you say? As an NGO that works in spaces and places affected by the legacies of injustice, inequality, race and division we...
How would you finish this sentence: “If I could show people of other ethnicities what it is like for people like me to live in Cape Town, I would show them…”? We collected a range of anonymous responses from fellow residents of our city. They have not been edited for grammar or brevity. All biographical data collected was optional. These are...
There was a time in our country when it was illegal for black, white, coloured and Indian people to be friends with each other. After decades of segregation, and now two decades of democracy, many South Africans struggle to know how to relate to people who look different to them. Some people are afraid of saying or doing something...
Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie delivered a powerful TED talk in 2009. She raised the crucial issue that we can have pictures, stories and ideas about people groups and cultures that are too narrow, too restrictive and limiting. We can live lives with these stories in our minds, shaping the way we see and interact with people from these groups...
Many of us experience anxiety, guilt and even irritation sitting at the traffic lights on a wet winter day when a pleading face peers in our window, appealing for small change. You may search for small change and as you hand over a few coins, wonder if the money will be used for food or alcohol. Is there a better...
By Isiphambano Centre for Biblical Justice Penny Sparrow is a name which has become synonymous with racism in South Africa. In 2016 she wrote, referring to black people, that “These monkeys that are allowed to be released on New Year's eve and New Year's day on to public beaches towns etc obviously have no education what so ever so to allow them...
As we have conversations about race and diversity, it is important to clarify what we mean by the words we use. Below we clarify a number of key phrases or words that appear throughout the many resources on this site that address these topics. This is a list of working definitions, researched and collated, to create a starting point for...
One of the things that both challenges me – and yet fascinates me – about leading a congregation right in the heart of the city, is the fact that our city – and to some extent our church – is filled with some very wealthy people and some very poor people; people who live in extraordinary homes and people...
