STEVEN BOYKEY SIDLEY: I know I'm not supposed to ask, but are we still welcome here?
I am aware that the tragic past and present suffering inflicted on people who are not of my race might make it seem narcissistic and tone deaf to ask this question. Were I to ask it of black friends and colleagues, the answer would be a definitive yes, of course. But I am not so sure, because I have never asked this question until a few weeks ago, and so I ask it here. Are we still welcome here? A short time before the recent student protests I was invited to the JHB Art Fair. As we were leaving, a guest arrived in a head-to-toe outfit that was covered in the words ‘F*** White People’. People clustered around her as devotees to a prophet. The guest basked in the attention. I thought — it is an abstract political statement, I should not take it personally. And then I went home and thought little more of it.
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