SOCIETY NEEDS TO DO THE WORK THEOLIN TEMBO
A RECENT panel discussion was held focusing just how important it is to recognise the intersectionality that exists within people, and how these intersecting identities ties into ongoing fights against systemic oppression. An Impulse Talks panel discussion addressed the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) movement, and how black queer lives also factor into that. Over recent months the conversation of black bodies dying at the hands of police brutality has gripped the world. The recent murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Collins Khoza and Nathaniel Julies has had a ripple effect and forced people to look at the injustices facing the queer community. The discussion was facilitated by Impulse Cape Town‘s Wentzel April and Ashraf Booley, and featured activists Bayanda Ndumiso, Rowan Roman, and trans rights activist Zoey Black as panellists.
Impulse Group Cape Town is part of a global volunteer group of active gay men who promote healthier sexual lifestyles using modern social approaches. Booley started the discussion by asking the panel where they stood on the BLM movement, and Roman answered that he personally believes that “we can’t not be for the #BlackLivesMatter movement if we understand our history as a country”. “As a people of South Africa, it doesn’t make sense to not support it because it is in our everyday lived experience. For me to then say I don’t believe that this is a movement that deserves my support is to say I don’t believe that my country is a country that deserves my support.” Booley added that it cannot be only people of colour supporting this movement but that it’s necessary for white people to get involved. Roman said: “I agree, and the reason I think the solidarity and support of white people are essential, is because the only reason, we are in the predicament that we’re
in as a country, and as a people is because of our history. And if we don’t address that, and we don’t stand together in opposing that history, it is going to repeat itself… It’s constantly (already) repeating itself in very minute ways. There are instances of microaggressions, and a microaggression is the start. It escalates and it becomes bigger.” Black said that even when talking about the subject on a global scale, it’s important to remember there are particular groups of people who have been disadvantaged in particular ways. “Movements like BLM are attempts to dismantle or reconfigure the system to give visibility, to give balance to those groups because they’ve been so disadvantaged for a long time. I think deep down people have to ask themselves conceptually why this movement exists, what is the need for it, and why am I supporting it or not supporting it?” Booley added that if social movements want to be representative, they must use
