"ngabantu" poems
instead of making them feel at home
we are telling them to go back home
have we got no shame calling our brothers and sisters foreigners in their own motherland?
what happened to Ubuntu?
umntu ngu mntu ngabantu?
has the long walk to freedom not been walk for us?
there will be no freedom in Africa if we still believe in brutality rather than humanity
there will be no freedom in Africa if don't understand the meaning of struggle, poverty
yesterday we were crying for freedom
praising and promoting the spirit of togetherness,today we stone the same African brother who held our hands in the years of apartheid and gave us hope!
why do we have to be so cruel not so fucken cool!
Nelson Mandela did not die for this!
Walter sisulu did not die for this!
our black brothers and sisters in sharpville did not die for this!
where did it all go wrong?
we claim to be the land of peace yet we do not know the meaning of forgiveness
we claim to be the land of great leaders and born dreamers yet we do not know the meaning of Ubuntu!
I am not proud of what this land has become....
Aug 18, 2015
Aug 18, 2015 at 8:14 PM UTC
Never judge a book by its cover - they say.
Never believe a man's word over his actions - they say.
Never trust without reason - they say.
Why not? - I say.
Humanity (as a virtue) is being crippled by humans as they
stride
past the crippled man, hunched-back and desperate to extend,
to stand up,
to reach out
for that can of coffee at the grocery store.
As they violate, debilitate and penetrate our
minds by starving
us of
education
and
taunt
us
with
grant
money.
As they reduce our
complexity and significance and capabilities
to
stats
charts
numbers
lines
dots
.
As they stand, staring
up
eleven floors
at a flailing, failing student ready to
jump.
As they stereotype us
into boxes
that we use to hold our belongings -
our interior design.
As they spend more
money in one day
than they
pay
the gardener over
a week.
As they scoff down ketchuped french fries
after saying they were
starving
whilst they edge
forward
at the
robot
to
ignore
hungry begging children.
As they complain about being
alone
when the others around them are also
human.
That's just it.
The 'they' that we always speak of,
'They'
are us.
Unsheltered, not oblivious -
we see the misery, suffering,
pathetic pain -
but we are ignorant of the
barefoot woman with
a load
on her head and
a life
on her back,
asking for a
lift.
Some of us see the strain
but convince ourselves that our efforts would be
insignificant,
assure ourselves that it is
hopeless,
we are helpless.
Science and religion
seem like parallel lines but
they
converge on the point that
Mankind
is a superior species.
'Made in his image.'
'Increased cranial capacity, developed the ability to reason.'
Yet we use that magnificence to justify our
INcapability?
Advanced beings in an age of connectivity and
so disconnected from the essence of our own kind.
We decide
to be
alone.
There are rainbows of
'umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu'
but Ubuntu becomes
'don't want to'
and apathy is what makes us insignificant
- indifferent and inhumane.
To those who
can read this,
we
are hypocrites
- together -
which means that we are never alone and thus we are made
able.
We are not helpless, we just
Help Less.
I refuse to hope less in humanity
and allow us to be coaxed into an inferiority-complex
when we can have
progress and
success but
Only after we have
oneness.
Mar 27, 2016
Mar 27, 2016 at 11:00 AM UTC