Stop passing the buck
because the paper is frayed
and the face of a dead man
and the glory of a dying species
is fading into dust.
Stop playing blame games.
1994 didn’t happen
by saying it’s the government’s fault
Do not preach to me education
while you tax knowledge
and churn out policies
about science and math
forgetting about the history
of the tongues that built this land.
South Africa is a graveyard of paper boxes
a land divided into gridlock
boxes getting smaller
lines getting thinner
until everything is grey
but not black
Black is the colour that accepts all
White, red, yellow –shade doesn’t matter
because black embraces all and holds them within
not letting go.
you say you’re Black but you call him Nigerian
you say you’re Indian but they are Memen
you’re called Asian but you’re actually Taiwanese
(no one else in the world sees you
as anything but South African
when your family has roots in this land)
We are not one
We are not Africa
But South Africa
a colony
in a sea of black
that refuses to join the flow.
© Zaynab Asmal
***
Matriculant 2013
***
