South Africa Congo-Kinshasa: Do S. Africa, Tanzania &... South Africa: SA Condemns Boko Haram Attacks... South Africa: SA Responds to Disarmament of... South Africa: Pupils Imitate Dog Fighting -... Human Rights Nigeria: Je Suis Nigeria Burundi: Violence Sparks Alarm Ahead of Polls Uganda: My Children Will Not Starve While... Tunisia: Flaws in Military Trials for Uprisin... Ads by Google By Raeesa Pather The furore over allegations of racism at the 12 Apostles Azure restaurant is beginning to calm down, but in its wake, some South Africans are deliberating over what constitutes racism and why their experiences of it are being denied. RAEESA PATHER reports. The quiet racism displayed at the 12 Apostles Hotel and Spas swanky Azure restaurant led one blogger to ask But is it racism? In her post, Rumbi Gorgens reflects on her own run-ins with racists and says that when she tells her white colleague about her experiences, she is made to explain why it is racism - until she herself begins to question it. Do I see race too easily? Am I too quick to play the victim in situations like this? Gorgens writes. But then, I realised the absurdity of it all. On the word of a white woman, who denies me my experience because she has never had it, I was denying myself my own narrative. It hit me: this is how whiteness operates. In an interview with The Daily Vox, Tumi Mpofu also described how subtle acts of racism can sometimes be. Mpofu, who was part of the family who couldnt get a booking at Azure until they got a white friend to call instead, said that overt racism - such as violence or derogatory name-calling - is often the only form of discrimination that white people associate with racism. Perhaps this is what makes it so easily excusable to some. Asked for comment in the wake of the incident, the 12 Apostles Hotel and Spas general manager, Michael Nel, dismissed the incident as human error. Since then, some commentators have been careful not to use the word racist and instead searched for substitute phrases. Sometimes people make mistakes. Those mistakes are then compounded by other mistakes. And when a few more mistakes are thrown into the mix, a black gentleman and his family are left feeling rather insulted, writes Kiernan for 2 Oceans Vibe. Racism at the 12 Apostles? he asks in the title. But thats the first and last time the word racism is mentioned, showing how effectively one excuse cast doubt over Mpofus experience. Just as Gorgens found her experiences of racism to be swept away and her mention of them considered to be playing the race card, the comments on The Daily Voxs republication of a blog post about the 12 Apostles incident highlight how easy it is to find a way to explain that something is not racist - despite experiences which say otherwise. Maybe it was a reservation and admin error, why go and blast the venue and play the race card, writes commenter Gav. Beyond the logistics of bookings, another debate emerged around the restaurant telling Mpofus family to quieten down for the comfort of other diners. On Twitter, a heated twar broke out when a commentator defended the restaurants right to protect decorum. @thedailyvox Whilst I absolutely do not condone racism. Some need to understand restaurants demand a sense of decorum to preserve ambience.. -- Zack Deedat (@Zack_za) January 6, 2015 @zack_za @thedailyvox so black people werent gonna provide decorum? This ambience is the preserve of white people? -- Boitumelo Mokotong (@TumiMokotong) January 6, 2015 @TumiMokotong @thedailyvox theyre not exactly known to respect decorum in public places, have experienced this lots #justsaying #notracist -- Zack Deedat (@Zack_za) January 6, 2015 In a blog post, Zimbabwean Ricky Marima came to the conclusion that as a black foreigner in South Africa, he had been protected from the subtle racism that builds upon South African stereotypes and prejudices. Not having grown up with apartheid and racism I missed the inference, youre not like our blacks. This is the [black foreign national] privilege. My accent and origins put these people at ease and I walked into and worked in places I probably would not have otherwise, Marima writes. Still, many South Africans are left having to justify their experiences, and at least one blogger has had enough. What I want, as a black person living in this city, is not to win the argument and convince everyone that it is indeed racism. What I want is to be heard when I tell these stories and not have them immediately dismissed as figments of my overactive black imagination, Gorgens writes. South Africa Do S. Africa, Tanzania & Malawi Lack Will to Pursue Rebels? This week all eyes were to be on the joint summit between the South African Development Community (SADC) and the … see more » Ads by Google Copyright © 2015 The Daily Vox. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 2,000 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 200 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. 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Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:39:22 +0000