Posts Tagged ‘DASO’
Fighting racism part 2
Posted on: January 31, 2012
This is a follow-up on the post I wrote last week concerning the DASO poster.
One of the comments I read on twitter after the poster became twitter-famous, was something along the lines of “the DA has lost the plot. the fight against racism is not about who you can or can’t date but about equality” – can’t remember who it was by.
Which is the truth. Mandela et al didn’t fight and spend time in prison for interracial dating. They did it so that I’m not forced to live in Kasi because I’m black, so that I can choose the career I want, I can go to the university I want to, I can get that job ahead of others if I’m the most qualified…so that I have the choice to live the life I want to…or at least that I have the opportunity to strive for that life.
Get rid of shacks and give people proper housing, get employment to a point where BEE is no longer necessary (which I think starts with basic education – get those kasi/rural schools up to scratch), make sure race is no longer a determining factor in where I work, what position I hold in the company, where I live, where my kids go to school, how a person is seen/treated…and that will be good enough for me.
I couldn’t care less if people take a second look when I walk by with my white/asian/coloured/indian/etc boyfriend, as long as I know that at the end of the day my basic needs and those of my loved ones are taken care of.
Let’s fight racism…
Posted on: January 25, 2012
- In: thoughts
- 4 Comments
…by focusing on race.
I can’t speak for everyone of course, but I think that’s my issue with the DASO poster below. Ok, there’s also the fact that they are unnecessarily naked, but…yea.
There was once this TV ad for that train – think it’s called shosholoza meyl – and it had this black chick and this white guy and they met on the train and by the end of the train ride they were…uhm…a little too familiar, if you catch my drift. That ad, in my opinion, said what this poster was trying to say, without actually saying so. It sent the same message without having to say it, and without having the focus be on race. Yes, they were of different racial backgrounds, and yes I noticed the interracial-ness, but that wasn’t the focus. Of course they weren’t advertising interracial dating but a train, so it was a different situation. (wait, am i saying the DA is advertising interracial dating?)
Focusing on someone race can never stamp out racism, I think. At the end of the day, because the poster is ABOUT race, whe you look at the poster you see a BLACK girl and a WHITE guy, not just a couple.
I don’t know how they could have made it better – I’m not in advertising, I’m not a graphic designer – just sharing what I felt/saw concerning the poster.
in our future, interracial dating will be ok.
