Through my lens I see a town rich with history
History that is as solid as the buildings we aren’t allowed to alter
History that is encompassed in our museum that pays tribute to Huberta
History that is seen in the erection of Queen Victoria’s statue
History that is evident in the German stone that was laid here by German settlers
History that has encouraged us to honour the memory of a man who said ‘The greatest weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed’ Thank you Steve Biko
I see us trying to move forward by using these symbols of history as a leg to stand on
Yes, we were also crippled, colonised… but slowly we are learning to stand on our own two feet
School’s names have been changed so as to indicate that we do not worship our British colonisers.
We are our own people and we will move forward.
Yes, we have dusty clouds in some of our streets
And some livestock tend to roam about
Our taxi ranks look like sardines squashed in a tin
Yes we have people begging for money and food at our robots
Yes, we as pedestrians have to walk in the road because our vendors are so entrepreneurial that they tend to take up the sidewalk
That our municipality loves to see grass grow to a certain height before they decide it’s long enough to cut
But this in no way indicates that we are technologically, economically or psychologically backwards
People might think that building a shopping centre is an advancement
Or the fact that we have McDonald’s
Or maybe even that a range of fast food shops opened
The advancement is seen in working places where race quotas are taken into consideration
In schools where pupils sit side by side irrespective of the colour of their skin
Where everybody is afforded opportunities one way or the other
Where a fuss is no longer made if head and deputy head girls or boys are Black
Because our race no longer determines our success or not
Our race is merely a box we have to tick when filling in forms
Our history, our advancements, our race all encompass our town.
