The almost totally new black manifesto for dummies: 6 things to remember in a world where blacks lead white political parties, companies, communities and countries

A great deal of discussion followed in the aftermath of Lindiwe Mazibuko’s contestation of the parliamentary leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA). For those unfamiliar with South African politics, the DA is the historically white and current main opposition party in South African politics. The 31-year-old Mazibuko, as many have noted, is the rising star in the party. Her English pronounciation is what in South Africa is called a Model C or private school accent. This is shorthand for the fact that she did not receive the crappy, limited and limiting Bantu education many black children experienced in rural and township schools during apartheid, and the bad deal that many continue to get under the current black government.

In the run up to the election, a black DA member, Masizole Mnqasela, expressed the view that the DA should not act as if diversity was only about skin colour. He argued that the DA would fail to attract black voters because Lindiwe Mazibuko was only “window dressing” – effectively saying, I suspect, she was not really black. In fact he said, Mazibuko sounded like a white person. But it should be said that he added that he disqualified her because she was not experienced enough to lead the DA in parliament. Mnqasela's money was on then incumbent white male parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, who was standing for re-election and against Mazibuko.

The leader of the DA, Helen Zille, would subsequently weight in and refer to Mnqasela as expressing “Verwoedian thinking”. She also likened him to Julius Malema, the African National Congress Youth League Leader.   

As a matter of fact, this brouhaha is only the latest local instantiation of a debate about what it means to be black. Earlier in the year, Blade Nzimande, higher education minister, called the same Mazibuko a coconut – meaning black on the outside and white inside – who knew little about township life after Mazibuko complained about the use of the word darkies in parliament. I also recall when two well-known South African scholars fought about the issue on the pages of a Sunday newspaper about five years ago. Similar debates have taken place in other parts of the world. There was much talk of a post-race society and post-blackness when Barack Obama emerged as a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States of America, and his eventual election as the president of that country. Something similar came up when Diane Abbott entered the leadership contest for the Labour Party in  Britain.

These then are only a few of the endless discussions about who is really black and who is not that takes place all over the world in multi-racial societies on a daily basis. And don’t forget the related issue of what is or isn’t black. So even as I offer my thought about how to think blackness I know that this is one subject that is as longstanding as it is interesting. I don’t for a second believe I will resolve it. Actually, I don’t think there has to be total agreement, but I do think it helps to understand something about the construction of blackness. My main motivation in offering these thoughts is that discussions about race are not always very enlightening for anyone who has not read enough on the latest theories on identity, and racial identity. They can be very confusing for younger people who may be trying to understand what it means to be black in this changing world.

Here then are 6 things to remember in a world where blacks lead white political parties, companies, communities and countries.

1.    Blackness comes in all colours.

Don’t expect all melanin-rich, coffee-coloured-, chocolate-tone-, one-drop-of-black-blood-, light-skinned-but-descended-from-African, dark-skinned individuals to think about blackness or do it in similar ways. Some do dislike their skins and anything black except clothes perhaps. Stephen Biko was expressing a similar thought when he spoke of black and non-whites. Black is an economic, political, social and cultural condition. Consequently, there will be different positions on blackness taken by those who are apparently black. One woman’s blackness is another's non-white and yet another new black. This internal differentiation of blackness becomes even more so as black people have increased choices about how to define their lives and the world becomes increasingly connected and globalised.

2.    Being black is more than the sum of its parts.

Blackness is not only your skin colour, or your general acceptance as a black person, or your ethnicity. Neither is blackness your poverty or money. It is not your car, the fact that you use a taxi, train, bus, bicycle, scooter, or that you walk everywhere. It is not your lack of schooling or your doctorate. It is not house, mansion or shack. Blackness is not equal to your accent. Blackness is not Afro, weave, wig, cheese, or human hair. Blackness is not reducible to the village, township, town, city or suburb where you are born, forced or choose to live. None of these actions, characteristics, choices, stuff, or any other element on its own definitively describes what it means to be black you.

3.    Use whatever talent or advantage you have to be all you can be.

You should refuse to be narrowly defined on the basis of skin colour, reputation, ethnicity, education, occupation, money, house, hair, place or any single characteristic or possession because you are more than any of them. Good education can be of use even in a deeply racist society. So is fluency in many languages. Money is important, of course. As is being well-employed. Where you live does make a difference. There are many other things which one can mention – such as being tall, strong, physically attractive, the way you dress – that can give you an advantage over others. And it does not hurt to have a clear, unblemished and beautiful skin or good hair. The point is that you should use them, certainly. However, be careful not to worship them, use the characteristics to oppress others, or allow them to imprison you.

4.    Don’t waste your hope by investing it in politicians or any other would be messiahs.  

To invest hope in a black political messiah is to waste a valuable asset. While hope for a better future for the generations to come is absolutely vital if one is to keep fighting the good fight, or even just to be able to wake up day in and day out, any hope is misplaced if it is put in politicians or any other kind of would be messiahs. One place where you can safely put your hope – that is, when you have learned as much as possible about the world and yourself – is in the collective yet dispersed aspirations of your self-identified community. Nearly all politicians, however well-spoken, and whatever their hue are first and last interested in acquiring and maintaining power; as for messiahs, they tend to think of themselves as gods and perhaps they are better when you meet them in the afterlife. 

5.    Recognise that while you believe in justice others may just have very different beliefs

It is undeniable that white racism is primarily aimed at oppressing black people as a group in fundamental ways and little ones for the benefit of whites. However it is also true that intra-group oppression and prejudice exists amongst blacks (as it does among whites, Chinese, Arabs, women, men, and any other group you can think of). For as much as one believes in fairness, others believe in the natural inequality between individuals and groups. You better recognise it - which is not the same thing as saying you should support injustice and oppression of some by others. 

6.    Whatever one thinks about blackness will likely change as the world in which blackness is constructed changes.

Blackness is contingent. It emerges out of the conditions in which people defined as black find themselves in. It is shaped by all the extant forces in a particular society as well as what occurs elsewhere in the world. Thus what it means changes from one place to another, from one historical era to the next. At the same time, blackness itself is one of those forces that shape the world. As such, whatever prevalent meaning is attached to blackness is likely to change as the world changes.