Artists at Essence Festival should take a knee in sympathy with US campaign
Positive vibe between progressive forces in both countries exists
There was a sense of purpose and excitement when thousands of artists – writers, musicians and practitioners in other art disciplines – from the US and SA started gathering in Durban early this week for the annual Essence Articulation Festival.
As someone who started writing in the fiery 1980s, when many black writers believed they could use their words as bullets in the fight against apartheid, I can attest to the positive vibe between progressive forces in both countries; we complement each other so beautifully.
This, I suppose, has to do with our political histories, which tend to converge every now and then.
At the helm of the civil rights movement, Dr Martin Luther King consciously decided that acts of civil disobedience would be done peacefully.
He proudly noted that in mapping out his strategy, he had been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, who first experimented with passive resistance in South Africa.
At the tail end of the civil rights movement, we saw in South Africa the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement, which sought to take our anti-apartheid struggle to the next level.
Steve Biko, the public face of black consciousness, pointed out how he’d been inspired by the fiery oratory of Malcolm X and the public spiritedness of the Black Panther Party.
In the late ’60s and early ’70s, when thousands of black South Africans fled into exile, ending up in the diaspora, our brothers and friends in the US welcomed them with open arms.
Were it not for the generosity of the likes of Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Maya Angelou, the lives of Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Miriam Makeba and others would probably have been different. In short, South African art would have been poorer. Lebo M probably wouldn’t have given the world The Lion King.
With black America, we share a history, a destiny.
In 2015 our students embarked on a campaign to decolonise education. To get started, they set about getting rid of statues and edifices that were a tangible manifestation of colonialism.
One of these was the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, which towered above the University of Cape Town. At the instigation of the students, the statue was removed.
The RhodesMustFall movement suddenly grew wings. It flew to the UK, where it made its presence felt. Then it flew to the US where black people took to the streets instigating for the removal of statues that celebrated a racist, oppressive side of America.
Sadly, that peaceful protest degenerated into violence when right-wing racists attacked blacks in the town of Charlottesville, Virginia, last month. One person was killed.
In response to President Donald Trump’s implied defence of the right wing, this past weekend numerous players in the National Football League refused to sing the national anthem. Whenever the anthem was sung, they peacefully knelt on the ground.
The campaign has gone viral. This week Stevie Wonder took the knee. Pharrell Williams did the same, as did John Legend.
Trump has complained that these black people are unpatriotic.
He says if they want to protest, they must not do so in public.
Say what? You kick me in the face, and you tell me how I should experience the pain you’ve just inflicted on me?
I am heartened there is already a groundswell South African response to the belligerence of Trump.
One hopes that the artists gathered in Durban until Sunday will take the campaign to new levels.
‘‘ Trump has complained that these black people are unpatriotic