Managed to go through day 2 out of the 3 days in court and it was more difficult than i had expected. To sit there and listen to the accused joke about lynching black people, listen to him talk about how he replaced/edited Martin Luther Kings picture with Adolf Hitler and changing his famous words I have a dream to Not only N.word have a dream, or when he took a picture of Nelson Mandela and Trevon Martin and wrote the title We are all gangster N.word. I found myself to be extremely frustrated when i had to listen to the judge tell me not to speak about racism and afrophobia from a structural and historical context. We do not need a lesson on racism and human rights i believe was her words, and my previous experiences and frame of reference as a person of african descent and human rights activist was irrelevant in her opinion. I came to realise that, i do not only stand in court against the accused but also against a bigger structure manifesting symptoms of cognitive dissonance. I broke down into tears as soon as i left the court room during a 15 minutes break we had. I tried holding my emotions together but was for the first time during all these years totally incapable of taking control of my anger and frustration. This feeling didnt last long thanks to all the fantastic support i got from all the anti racist activist and friends who were present at the time. I felt the love, the support and solidarity beyond anything i had expected. I felt safe and amongst friends. We face up to awful things because we cant go around them, or forget them. Tough times never last, but tough people do. When we grow tall, it is often because we stand on the shoulders of others and i am greatful for all the support you have shown by coming to court, by tweeting your support, by texting, writing on social media,etc etc. Adversity is a fact of life. It can’t be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it and your support makes it a lot easier and worth while. Thank you and see you tomorrow in court. Thanks aganin !!
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:22:36 +0000
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