Makunyiwe Macala!* This is a Xhosa term that is said during times of battle where we take matters into our hands. In English one might use the term ‘tit for tat’ / ‘butter for fat’. In this issue, we would like to tap into that spirit of defiance and rebellion.

Now, I never got the full ‘Blue Movie’ experience, however, I do remember a day when my brother and his friends kicked me out of our small bachelor flat to use the VCR machine to watch a porno. Out of nowhere, my grandmother rocked up to visit my mom and lo and behold she found a group of pubescent boys in their school uniform gaping at a sex scene on the TV.

Blacks. What can you say about Blacks without mentioning the unjust nature of our very existence on this entire planet? To thrive, survive and overcome is often painted in our narratives. Whites admire us for being able to ‘dance’ and sing through difficult times - ironically including their own systemic oppression.

Democracy in 1994 came with renewed hope for the next generation. Millennial Black children began attending better schools than those their parents had been offered through Bantu education. As time will always tell, each generation has its vices. Every other family was gripped by alcoholism in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the 2000s and 2010s ushered in a narcotic subculture largely influenced by the nightlife in PE central

As Black people, our issues are systemic — and to go around saying that 'Black people aren't ready for freedom' is an oversimplification of a problem that's faced us for well over 400 years. Our problems as Black people in South Africa begin in 1652, when white settlers decide that they will take our land, rape us, kill us, and implement laws that will govern through the end of time.