Last week SuperSport presenter Ashwin Willemse walked off the set during a live broadcast. He stated that he had worked hard to earn respect after being labelled a quota player during his rugby career.
Willemse said he was not going to be “undermined” and “patronised” by “two individuals who played in an apartheid/segregated era”.
The reaction on social media to Willemse’s speech was arguably even more interesting than the speech. His words resonated with and angered many people. As a result #AshwinWillemse remained one of the trending topics on
Twitter days later.
Social media can be a vile place and this incident brought the racists and misogynists out of the woodwork. Numerous comments were made claiming that Willemse was a drug user or a drug dealer, one Facebook user called Willemse a “* *******t” and another user claimed that this incident was proof that white people were smarter than people of colour.
The fact that MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela has tried to downplay the aspect of race in the Ashwin Willemse (seen in his Bok heyday) debacle is problematic, says the writer.
Most of the comments were posted by white cisgendered men. These individuals told people of colour to “calm down” when their comments were scrutinised.
When people of colour started pointing out the problematic nature of comments made by these white men, other white men felt the need to jump on the bandwagon and clarify that not all white people were the same. This is not new information.
When someone says “not all white people” they’re not saying anything that people of colour don’t already know. What these people actually want to say is “don’t include me in this narrative”.
Instead of using their privilege to help give a voice to people of colour, they successfully make the oppression and dehumanisation of millions of people about themselves as an individual.
This is not acceptable.
It’s not about you. Don’t make it about you. Everyone knows that not all white people are the same.
The point is enough white people behave and live in a way that every person of colour, whether they lived through apartheid or are part of the “born free” generation, has felt undermined, patronised and dehumanised because of the colour of their skin.
The reason the Willemse incident resonated with people across the country was because all people of colour could relate to Willemse in that moment.
We have all experienced a point in our lives where we have or wished we could have stood up to our racist white colleagues, friends or family members.
Let me be clear, racism takes many forms. Racism is not simply calling someone the “K-word”. Racism is mocking someone’s accent because it does not conform to your colonial standards.
Racism is interrupting someone so that you can correct their grammar in order to undervalue what they said by virtue of how they said it. Racism is belittling someone’s opinions and disrespecting their dignity because they do not share your ancestry.
The fact that MultiChoice chief executive Calvo Mawela has tried to downplay the aspect of race in this debacle is problematic.
It undermines the intelligence of the nation. The fact that Willemse and so many South Africans are undermined daily is inextricably linked to their race.
The racial make-up of the social media commentators is also worth examining.
The moment an individual used the hashtag #AshwinWillemse, a swarm of white men descended onto the Twitter feed.
They called you racist, they called Willemse racist and demanded that you listened to them.
In most of the cases these were men you did not know, nor did you care to know. Yet their superiority complex persuaded them to believe that their opinion needed to be valued over your own. This was internalised racism at play.
Generally, when internalised racism is discussed it is done so from the perspective of the subjugated - when people of colour begin to self-hate and believe the stereotypes that their oppressors have imposed
upon them.
However, in this instance I refer to white people who have been internalised and socialised to believe that their opinions and beliefs are superior to those around them. They believe that they have the right to decide what is and what is not offensive or oppressive.
These are the same people who reduce to profanities and name-
calling when you disagree with them. When you confront them to call them out on their racism or their blatant rudeness, they almost never apologise. They don’t feel the need to apologise because subconsciously or not, they see people of colour as less than human.
The dehumanisation of people of colour is deeply encoded in language. It is therefore important to unpack the language used in the Willemse incident.
The media repeatedly characterised Willemse’s speech as an “outburst” and claimed that he “stormed out”.
This is the media’s attempt to stereotype Willemse as the angry coloured man and pander to an audience who dehumanises him. Willemse did not “storm” out.
He did not throw a tantrum.
He never raised his voice. He recognised that his dignity was not being respected, he placed his papers on the desk and calmly exited a toxic situation.
Comments on social media perpetuated similar undertones with individuals labelling Willemse as a “cry baby” and insinuating that he had a “hissy fit”.
These comments are deeply entrenched in toxic masculinity and a colonial mentality. Willemse expressed his feelings in a calm fashion only to be belittled, his feelings invalidated and dismissed.
Attempts to feminise and diminish a man for expressing emotions because it does not coincide with a heteronormative notion of masculinity is rooted in toxic masculinity.
The other buzz word that has come up repeatedly is “unprofessional”. Take a minute to think about whose idea of professionalism. Is it not the heteronormative white male elite?
This is the colonial mentality.
I would argue that it is unprofessional to belittle a co-worker, particularly on live television, by mocking their accent, correcting their grammar and laughing at them when they express that they feel undermined.
However, this is precisely what Naas Botha and particularly Nick Mallett have done for years.
This is how the heteronormative white male elite react when a person of colour stands up for him or herself.
The irrational comments generated on social media has not garnered enough attention.
Many South Africans, white men in particular, have come to the consensus that bringing up apartheid or talking about race makes you racist.
Talking about the ongoing impact of apartheid, or events that took place under apartheid, does not make you a racist. Supporting apartheid makes you a racist.
Discussing race does not make you a racist. Treating people
differently because of their race makes you a racist.
Discussions about apartheid and race are vital to our progress as a country and self-healing. People of colour are tired of living with apartheid’s aftermath, tired of living with a skin colour that continues to alienate and subjugate them.
When incidents like these arise, I urge white people to not immediately become defensive, but to rather use the opportunity to listen to and engage with the people of colour in their lives, in their places of work and in their homes.
How else will we ever move forward as a nation?
* Boomgaard is a final-year multimedia production student at UCT with an interest in the socio-
economic implications of rugby in South Africa.