We haven’t got shared
words. Words are imperfect, but useful if they connect us. If they move the
conversation forward. Words are models of reality. I am a Soutie with one foot
in South Africa, and one foot in the UK. After “persistent problems with
salient collective terminology” (Peter Aspinall), the UK office for national
statistics defines ethnicity as “something that is subjectively meaningful to
the person concerned”. I reluctantly tick White African with half a nod to the
colourblind dream of the Rainbow Nation, and half a nod to the reality of
persistent bias in all the companies I worked in, and both countries I have
lived in. The latest stab at a word for ethnicity that doesn’t sit well for me in
the UK is “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic”. BAME. “Black” people are not a
minority in South Africa, and they are only a minority in wealthy countries
because our Nations were consciously constructed by race. Creating minorities.
Borders don’t interest me much. Religions, nations, companies, races, numbers, and words are imperfect models of a much more complicated reality. The key is
unpacking constructively.
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