How I see Biko today

by Maleke Montshiwagae Mahlomaholo oa Mosia Motobatsi

the Bible tells us that when Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, they suddenly realized that they were naked! . . . in other words, we are told that sinning brought them to self-realization. One of the world's renowned scientists, Professor Stephen Hawking recently expressed fear that, what if robots through artificial intelligence came to self-realization?.... wouldn't that pose a danger to human existence? .. Hawking warned through questioning.
for me these two conditions metaphorically expresses and resonates in a well known Biko's expression that says that "the most potent weapon at the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed"

within the context of the garden of Eden, Biko's life and BLACK consciousness represents a sin metaphor for the BLACK folk in that it attempts to bring him/her to consciousness or self-realization, it essentially sharpens the mind of the BLACK folk out of the schizophrenia of the garden of Eden. therefore, Biko is a forbidden fruit which reveals the naked "truth"!

in relation to the Stephen Hawking worries, Biko must be seen through BLACK consciousness as a programmer of the BLACK mind (programmer not in static terms of channelling the mind into a singular stereotypical path) whose resultant intelligence poses dangers to the metaphoric human existence represented by the oppressor. This danger appears to be in line with what the Afro pessimists call "the end of the world as we know it", which really means that the oppressed(dehumanised) gains human value similar to those of the oppressor hence collapsing human relations as we see it today with an emergence of a new relations, this situation poses danger to human existence(the oppressor) hence a resistance towards it as it endangers the oppressor's inherent privileges.

Steve Biko rejected certain liberal thoughts, of these, the idea of integration and non-racialism are of interest to me in how they continue to play a destructive role in BLACK affairs as Biko had already warned. Certain reactionaries claim that these are racist views by him, Biko indicates that we should not waste our time with those because ourselves we are aware that we are simply responding to provocation. What he was arguing was that if integration happens between an inferior and superior states, the resultant "superior-inferior-complex" formed out of this type of integration will disadvantage the inferior. however, if integration happens under the condition in which both the inferior and superior states are liberated mentally and through justice to the inferior via land return for example, then the formed complex becomes of benefit to progressive human relations. so in this context, I would conclude that Biko was not against integration per se, he was more worried about the terms and conditions of that integration.

regarding non-racialism, what he proposed was that BLACK people must be able to do things on their own without white supervision and interference. In other words, BLACKs must recognize their capability and do things in how they see them from their perspective so that when they go to a global village or are involved in modern global contexts, they do so as BLACK Africans attempting to position BLACKs as leaders in their own local affairs of land, commodity resources, culture, education, technology, economy etc. these "kind" of Blacks, capable of existing independent of liberal non-racialist cages, would be those capable of questioning why is that the owner of mineral resources has no greater influence in the currency exchange rates to the effect that his/her currency is even of less value as determined by the anti-BLACK capilist economic system? . . .In doing so, the BLACK is then capable of "standing" outside of the confusing dust of liberal non-racialism and asking fundamental questions that do not necessarily impedes "human progress" but attempts to reposition himself/herself as the main player in global affairs of "human progress".

therefore, for me Biko was "progressive" within both the "BLACK arena" and collective human arena, for it was him who spoke of "a march towards a quest for true humanity".

Biko was an existentialist, he recognised questions of concrete material needs of BLACKs in addition to psychological and hence mental health issues.

for me, the death of Steve Biko represents a recognition by the collective oppressor camp, of the dangers posed by the walking out of the schezophrenic state of the garden of Eden by the BLACK folk through the act of coming to consciousness of self, an act that poses a collapse to a metaphoric human existence represented by the oppressor.

Bantu Biko lives ✊. .

#Biko12September

the divisive effects of exceptionalism amongst BLACKs

**the divisive effects of exceptionalism amongst BLACKs **

by Maleke Montshiwagae Mahlomaholo

when I first came across and really got head to head with the cold ugly face of exceptionalism was in my early days of schooling when I was in Jouberton after I had left Valspan where I was born. I must admit that at that time it didn't mean anything to an untrained, young, unsuspecting and naive mind, it was business as usual and life was going on. In other words, it was built within and incorporated into the DNA of life as it were. So we saw nothing wrong at all!
One example of how this phenomenon manifested was when it was during those athletic seasons when competitions were held within schools and between schools and those that came out tops would proceed to compete at regional levels etc. Because of the apartheid spacial design of segregation, black people competed amongst themselves while white people competed amongst themselves as well.

it was only later at the advent of the so-called model-c schools where black people because of their socio-economic status, could mingle and compete with whites at a school level on athletics. Apart from this socio-economically
driven integration which actually collapsed over the years as whites began to migrate and move out of those schools as they began to feel uncomfortable been shoulder to shoulder with the subalterns, the competition amongst blacks and whites really occurred at higher levels such as regional levels.

From our school there were guys who could really sprint and were really fast. It was out of these guys that one of them, after winning at the intra school competitions made it to regional levels and went toe to toe with his white counterparts. Therefore, it was not long that news began to spread like fire in the school and classrooms that, apart from the fact that this chap did well in the race even though he didn't win the race, he was the only black amongst whites and for that reason it was considered an exceptional achievement indeed! Even when the poor chap came back to school and was paraded around, the teachers made it a point that the whole school got it through their skulls that the champion was the only black there!

And when I think about it now, it's actually scary how normal this was, how the whole school appeared to have internalised this whole "thing", how our presence alone amongst white presence was considered an exceptional performance! . . 😦😦

fast foforward to 2017, the many and various black centered readings by yours truly have served as a trigger to what was happening and what was at play then. Black inferiority complex playing itself out as exceptionalism and fed into the younger children to cement the supremacy of whites against which standards of excellence were to be measured, "if you are the only black amongst whites then there must be something exceptional about you and therefore you are not like the others" type of thing.

From my latest reading of "Die nigger Die", a beautiful autobiography by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin indicates that apart from the mental damages and scars this "exceptionalism" inflicts upon the black community, it actually devides the community.

Jamil writes that "...had I identified with most of the white-minded negroes at school, I wouldn't have been able to relate to brothers on the block. Worse than that, I would've thought that I was better than them.

It's like the whole school busing thing now. Busing Black children to schools outside the Black community is nothing but a move to divide the community. If integration is what's wanted, then bus the whole community.

But to take individuals out of the community is a very dangerous and immoral thing. The "brightest" students are taken, students who can fit into the white man's program best, and they're bused out of the community so they can come back and articulate the white man's program. That splits the community. Parents who sent their children to white schools in the South made a mistake. They injured those students mentally for life".

what comes out of this is that, "exceptionalism" is used to "develop" individual students in accordance with white standards of education, which instills individualistic sense of self-importance instead of a collective orientation of development which would go a long way in resolving the material black conditionality of the community instead of dividing it along the lines of "exceptionalism", which in turn breeds class divisions where blacks see themselves as being different to other blacks.

Prof Mabogo More, a scholar and philosopher by training, relates an event where a fellow white Professor at a conference expressed surprise to the fact that he was indeed a philosophy Professor, the white interlocutor said to Mabogo More that "wow, you must be good and different being a black professor of philosophy", so Prof Mabogo became what somebody elsewhere refered to as an "anthropological curiosity", an ointment of interest to the white window shopper. Also, the Prof was meant to feel "exceptional" and different to other blacks in accordance with white approval. Fortunately the Prof was conscious and aware of these subtle but mentally violent characters of whiteness.

so in all, you are presented as this mysterious alien with super special capabilities simply because you could enter spaces previously reserved for whites only, and that should make you feel good and special from the "others"...

Lessons to be learned are,

blacks must be aware of the subtle yet divisive implications of seeing oneself as an exceptional case within the black community's social constructs.

If our excellence is measured by our mere presence in white establishments which in turn instills individualistic sense of "exceptionalism", we need to be careful of its toxic effects in how we relate with fellow blacks. so to strive for excellence must not equal to striving for a place within whiteness and its heaven or to become a different black

our individual excellence must be seen as something that can contribute to the collective benefit of the community instead of something that affords us imagined social status that further divides us,

.. .. . #BlackUnity ✊.