Dear Parents
TODAY’S ASSEMBLY
In this morning’s assembly with the Grade 7s, I quoted from an interview with Muhammad Ali on 17 October 1971 (courtesy of a Mark Keohane article in the Weekend Argus of 4 July 2020). As we start a new stage in our transformation journey, it is so pertinent.
“Can I ask you when you were first aware, when you were a child, of the differences between black and white?”
This is what heavyweight boxing’s greatest ever champion said nearly 50 years ago: “I do a lot of reading, a lot of studying. I ask questions, I’ll go out, travel these countries, I’ll watch how their people live and I learn. And I always asked my mother, I said, “Momma, how come is everything white?” I said, “Why is Jesus white with blond hair and blue eyes? Why is the Lord’s supper all white men? Angels are white, the Pope, Mary”. I said, “Mother, when we die, do we go to Heaven?”
“She said, ‘Naturally we go to Heaven.’ I said, ‘Well, what happened to all the black angels?’ “They took the pictures,” said my mom. “I said, ‘Oh, I know. If the white folks is in heaven too, then the black angels were in the kitchen, preparing the milk and honey.’ “She said, ‘Listen, you quit saying that, boy.’ “So anyway, I was always curious. I always wondered why Tarzan is the King of the Jungle in Africa, he was white. And the Africans have been there for centuries and they can’t talk to the animals. Only Tarzan can talk to the animals. I always wondered why. And Miss America was always white. All the beautiful brown women in America, beautiful sun tans, beautiful shapes, all types of complexions, but she was always white. And Miss World was always white, and Miss Universe was always white.” “I said, ‘Momma, why is everything white? Even Santa Claus was white.”
Now we have seen Miss SAs who are black, Barack Obama was voted in as the first black President of the United States twelve years ago. We have had black Presidents since 1994. Siya Kolisi led the Springboks to a World Cup victory last year, Caster Semenya is one of our top athletes and we all cheer when Kagiso Rabada takes a wicket. Some artists portray Jesus as black nowadays.
Life is not the same as when Muhammad Ali was interviewed in 1971. So why then did George Floyd get brutally killed by a white policeman in the US earlier this year? Why did the #BlackLivesMatter movement spring up and get so much support so quickly? Why have a number of black sportsmen in South Africa come forward and said they felt they could not really stand up and speak out in our national teams for fear of discrimination? Why are business people saying that black appointments are often just window dressing?
And, much closer to home, why did our Matrics march to the Chapel last term and present a Memorandum to Mr Westwood demanding the end of discrimination at Bishops? Black boys described incidents of being insensitively treated and feeling ignored. Friend turning on friend and using his colour, background or religion to insult him. Boys who are gay having to be subjected to either homophobic insults or listen to anti-gay jokes to the extent that it was often easier to hide the fact that they were gay. Discrimination and racism are still with us, here in our own environment. We are and will address this across the school and you will be part of this process.
You are boys of 12/13, growing into young men, so you might say to me, “This is a world problem, I can’t change the world.” And my answer will be: But you can ensure that Bishops is different, that no boy or staff member ever has to feel inferior or discriminated against because of the colour of their skin, background, culture, religion or sexual identity. How? By never discriminating against or insulting others and standing up, calling others out, if they do it. It’s often easier to ignore but if I ignore it or you ignore it, it carries on and the people who do it get more powerful.
We all want you to be the best you can be, especially in terms of your character, but you can only become the real best you can be, if you encourage all those around you to become their best. This is the spirit of ubuntu. “A person is a person through other persons.”
My hope for you is that when you are in matric you will not need to say, “I did not feel that I belonged, I was discriminated against. I let discrimination happen in front of me, I let another be racially insulted and did nothing.”
If no one says this, in five years’ time, Bishops will really have transformed and you will be able to say that you, the Prep Grade 7s of 2020, were part of the process and made Bishops a better place for all.
Kind regards
GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER
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