Hi guys! I hope everyone is still coping and finding ways to remain positive during this pandemic, BLM movement, forced land evasions and all the other very important issues rearing its head forcing us to deal with it and make a change.
There has been an important conversation happening on Instagram with regards to the lack of diversity and inclusion within the blogger/influencer space in South Africa. If you would like a quick catch up, you can visit these profiles; @ka_jillofalltrades , @caffeineandfairydust ,ndibambe as well as many IGTV conversations that are thought-provoking and, for me, made me realise that I was not the only one feeling low about not growing as fast as I would have liked to on my blog, Instagram etc, not getting responses from PR companies, and realising that I do not have to blame myself or think that I am not good enough knowing I am putting in the work.
The conversation has escalated for about just over a week, maybe 2 weeks, and made me realise that we, meaning POC’s (people of colour), have been brought up in such a manner that I didn’t even realise someone was being racist toward me or that their behaviour is actually inherently racist. It got me thinking, is it because we so used racism that we can’t even identify it if it is not extremely blatant? Or because our parents sucked up this behaviour we do not see anything wrong with it?
I am so glad space has opened up for us to not be scared to raise our voices and ask questions. I am happy there is so much information out there to learn and educate yourself. Not being racist isn’t enough, we ALL need to be anti-racism. Tone policing, toxic positivity and racial gaslighting are all forms of discrimination and we need to identify and rectify this behaviour. For too long woman of colour have been told to “keep you in” don’t show how something is affecting you even if inside your heart you know it doesn’t sit well with you.
Because of previous experiences at companies that are not BBBEE compliant; when applying for jobs, I first check the organizations’ management structure before applying because I never want to experience feeling less than or not good enough or constantly watched and micro-managed when my white colleagues are not treated the same way.
I hope this post will urge you to do some research, learn, educate yourselves, big up bloggers and influencers of colour, support small businesses owned by persons of colour, share posts, like, engage as these small actions will lead to great change.
