“No, no. I’m not a racist. I’m the least racist person that you have ever interviewed.” – “that you’ve ever met” – “that you’ve ever encountered.”
But much earlier, or was it later, I cannot recall at this point in time, he referred to my country as a “shithole”. Well, he did not make direct reference to my country, but that is what he was implying, was it not? At this point, I cannot begin to agree that he may have had a point. Indeed, my country is in a lot of “shit”. But so is his. By agreeing with POTUS No. 45’s analogy (?) would have made me a racist.
As well.
Let me state for the record that I am an antiracist. Well, I’m trying. I’m trying to be honest. I’m not a politician either. Although I did dabble in politics up to and including the day that we all went to the polls for the very first time.
You, on the other hand, come November 3, 2020, this in the year of the virus, have yet another opportunity to change the course of your country’s destiny, its history. But will you?
To suggest that voter apathy is a greater sin than racism could also be racist, now that I think about it. And yes, I get you. I became disillusioned directly after my country’s first democratic election. But with the exception of our country’s pre-millennium elections, I have been to the polls ever since.
Listen to this, and see if it relates to you personally.
This is what POTUS No. 45 has said over the years up to his inauguration and during the course of his TOO.
“Laziness is a trait in Blacks”.
Campaigning to make your country great (again?) he defamed Latinos as criminals and rapists.
He also made an undertaking to to ban Muslims from entering your country.
Four years later, fifty or so Muslims are dead. They were at their Friday afternoon Prayers in Christchurch. Praying in a Mosque in Christchurch.
In line with POTUS No. 45’s way of reasoning, the man that murdered the Muslims was a very fine man. Very fine people indeed. How Trump labels White supremacists. Racists.
Today, I understand the voter apathy a little better. The feeling has always been; what is the point of voting for a Representative if he’s not going to be doing anything for me. Of course, its a lot deeper than that now. You could argue about this until you are blue in the face, but just ask your dad, or your granddad for that matter. Is it not true? The ballot boxes have always been stuffed. Where there was a marginal or swing vote; let’s stuff the ballot boxes, just to make sure. Ibram X Kendi writes extensively on this unfortunate phenomenon where he elaborates on how the Bush family manipulated matters. It affected Black and Latino communities in the main.
It turns out that I was told an ‘inconvenient truth’ about Bush’s opponent in the 2000 elections. A story for another day. Nevertheless, to my mind, the climate change advocate committed a cardinal error by allowing the system to take its course instead of challenging the disputed vote as POTUS No. 45 is threatening to do should he lose. Then again. Al Gore was very much a part of ‘the system’
Barack Obama was not. Indeed, it was a miracle that he was re-elected. The system assumed that it could manipulate Obama. But it could not, did not. Cast your mind all the way back to 9/11. And for that matter, the Great Recession. And – eek! – Obama literally nationalized the US economy. Or did he? The point is, it was not even a year after Obama was inaugurated that Osama bin Laden was ‘taken out’.
Most of the enabling acts and executive orders that Obama promulgated went against the grain. The sad irony is that it has not benefited the very people it was supposed to. Water under the bridge now. The 3rd of November 2020 is fast approaching. I’m hoping to God that you will go out and vote. Because what is happening in your country is affecting my country too. I would much rather be on the side of freedom and democracy. And it is like John Lennon once asked; wouldn’t you like to Give Peace a Chance. Not for nothing did Obama give peace a chance.
I’m tired. I’m sure you are too. But let’s just reflect on Trump’s statements before we part ways.
Black people are lazy. Muslims must be barred. Latinos are rapists. But white supremacists are ‘very fine people’ indeed? If you’re okay with being a racist then you’ll be voting for Trump. If you’re an antiracist and you act according to your conscience, you could vote against Trump. Yes, I admit, I’m not a fan of Biden either. But really folks, what choice do we have?
You are well and truly voiceless if you do not go and vote come November 3. If my Aunty Cher can campaign for Biden votes, then so can I. It is in my best interests to do so. And I’m doing it for you too. Cher does not think much of Biden, neither do I. But as far as we are concerned; Black Lives Matter. And for that matter; so too LGBTQ+ lives. Power to the people. Power to the people!
I was born approximately a year after the prime minister was knifed to death by a deranged but traumatized Greek gentleman who honestly believed that he was being eaten alive inside of him by worms.
On the day that Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, known to the world as the architect of Apartheid, was assassinated, the nation did not mourn. Not even two years earlier, the world as a whole did mourn. Because John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated by the establishment, the powers that be.
Not Lee Harvey Oswald as the propagandists would have you know. Just ask Oliver Stone and countless others.
In the year that my brother Andrew was born, Kennedy’s younger brother was gunned down. So too, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr and Malcolm X. Why, I ask you? Because they wanted to make the world a better place? Yeah, they were dreamers alright. John F Kennedy had a dream. He wanted to land a man on the moon. Posthumously, he did. But years later; the Love of my life Loves me to the moon and back. I Love her too, of course. Dr King also had a dream. Let’s keep it alive, people.
Months after Verwoerd was assassinated, I was born. In that same year, England dubiously beat Germany to win their first and only Football World Cup. But it was only years later in my life that I would come to know that I was Born this Way. Not in the physical sense. But in the emotional and spiritual sense. It led to me being able to meet the Love of my Life. Anyhow, the sweet girl next door, Annalise was her name, was not my first girlfriend but I liked her anyway. She was rather cute but I was too shy to join her to play with her dolls.
My wise and Loving pop let it be known to me and my brothers that our blood was Irish. Annalise was an Afrikaner girl. We got along just fine as kids. About the only thing I knew about colour as it were was when my young mom and dad were invited over to the next door neighbours to watch a blue movie.
1970’s
GERMANY
It’s quite profound, really, how a child as young as six or seven could come to be aware that his first best friend was different.
We were told quietly and nicely that he was German. We were all South African. But as young boys who could not yet tie their own shoelaces, little did Jochen and I know. Fast forward past all the adventurous war and cowboy movies, and years later, as a studious adult, I would come to know the real Germany. I would be lying to you if I told you that awareness dawned on me during my Cultural Diversity Studies whilst sitting for my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Languages, Literature and Creative Writing.
We would need to go back a few years earlier when my youngest brother Jonathan and I, during our regular movie-watching vigils at the time watched with grim horror Steven Spielberg’s version of Schindler’s List. And it would be eleven years later that my Indian lover, Teri and I went to see The Pianist. It was also around that time that I attended my brother’s wedding to his beautiful bride, Dominique. Somehow or another and she is more than welcome to correct me on this, she prides herself on her Francophone roots.
We share the same zodiac and this year, 2020, the year of the virus, we shared our birthdays. Amazingly, we are the same age, give or take a few days. My Love, Samantha Utay is also a Cancerian. My brother is nine years our junior, more or less, Samantha, younger still. Fifteen or so years later, Jonathan and Dominique are still together. Dominique buzzed me a couple of days after this post was published. Its been seventeen years actually. Wow! Their Pride and joy is, by now, a teenager. Or does she still have a year to go. Dominique? She’s my Godchild too. Prior to their beautiful wedding, Jonathan asked me to be his best man. I was in emotional turmoil at that time and a rather unfortunate argument turned out to be a Blessing in disguise as far as I am concerned.
Because the best man at their wedding was a rather fine Italian and gay gentleman named Daniele.
1980’s
ENGLAND
When I started writing this section of the blog I was thinking along the lines of coming out and being free.
But it was not to be. Freedom, to my mind, would only come years later, never mind 1994 when we all went to the polls for the first time. But I was of age and was allowed to do as I pleased up to a point. So, after settling into the YMCA, I went clubbing. I was in love with the dance floor, though I could not dance to save my life. I danced alone, sometimes I danced with a woman, sometimes with a boy.
But it was the music, really, and my mind was always someplace else. It was the Stock, Aitken and Waterman years, those chaps that brought us Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue. But the first and only record I ever shoplifted was David Bowie’s Let’s Dance. From the moment I heard the first bars, I was entranced. Years later, I am still listening to the late rock legend’s music. I’ve been in the mood for Space Oddity lately all because of Utay. She keeps on Loving me to the moon and back. And all I can think of is sitting in my tin can.
My brother Andrew remains a devotee of this great man’s poetry, and my landlady and friend, Faieza adores it at times when I do my version of Let’s Dance at the local karaoke bar. It reminds me of just a few years ago when her aunt and husband came over for a visit. The Brexit vote was imminent so I asked the old man which way he would vote. He was in favour of leaving the European Union. I was not. But just a few years later, before and after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson caught the virus, the United Kingdom, to my mind, remains in a state of turmoil and uncertainty.
1990’s
RUSSIA
Still to this day, in these uncertain times, I have always maintained that we watch Russia. Could I be wrong?
As we watched the young and the free chip away what was left of the Berlin Wall, my wise and Loving pop remarked in awe and wonder really that he never thought he’d live to see the day that it would happen. And yet he did. He has been to the polls. We watched Madiba walk free from the comfort of his living room. And hours later, I watched my first few hours of legal porn with the boys, cramped in a dingy little hostel room at the YMCA. Yeah, it did feel good to be finally free. But it came with a great deal of responsibility.
Years later on the very Parade where Nelson Mandela addressed the nation, I knew then that I had finally lost her. My mind was elsewhere, but little did we know at the time. Nevertheless, it was at the memorial gathering, a rather small crowd I might add, that we mourned and celebrated the old man’s passing. I somehow could not bring myself to wrap my arms around the young, brave woman who introduced me to Manenberg and a good deal more of what is known as the Cape Flats. It was just yesterday that I asked her oldest brother.
How is Berenice doing? And do send her my Love. My Loving mom still has her sewing machine but owing to the dangers of COVID-19, we have not yet been able to make arrangements for the collection thereof. What really brought the Berlin Wall down? Did capitalism have the last say? Or was it Chernobyl, the eerie monument of Soviet Russia that forced the hand of the Soviet regime. Tiananmen Square happened and it has not been forgotten. While it may appear that they have made strides in their lives, the Chinese citizenry remain as docile as ever.
2000
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
I was in a short and adventurous relationship with a Long street hooker when 9/11 happened.
Well, she had retired from that business, but that’s beside the point. We had long arguments, discussions and debates really, over what really caused this disaster. I am led to believe that the axis of evil hovered around the White House and the Houses of Congress. Is it any wonder then that the world had to wait until the arrival of Barack Obama to witness Osama bin Laden’s downfall? Also note how he leaned on the wise counsel of elder statesman, Joe Biden to bring the world back from the brink of the Great Recession.
It was a case of déjà vu really because not yet a century earlier Franklin D Roosevelt brought America out of the Great Depression. After the Japanese insanely bombed Pearl Harbour, he was finally able to send his country to war with Churchill to bring down Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I wonder though. Had Roosevelt been in better health, would he have sanctioned the mass murder of thousands of Japanese through the use of the world’s first atomic bombs. Sandwiched between two World Wars was the Spanish Flu.
It is only now in this the year of COVID-19, that people are beginning to come to terms with the severity of a virus that has been with us for centuries.
2012
The Philippines
The midnight hour was approaching.
I stood alone on the balcony of my Vredehoek apartment waiting for the world to end. The Mayans were not wrong, it’s just that we had yet to fathom how their calendar really worked. So, whilst I felt like a right royal fool, I was rather relieved. We had our reprieve. Barack Obama was re-elected, and I was relieved. Another four years of trying to right the wrongs of the past. But it was not to be. In just days, the world will be waiting to see whether old Joe Biden can put to pasture the carpet-bagger who has overseen the death of thousands of Americans.
Jeez, the year of the virus has brought the worst out of many people. Greed is good as Oliver Stone’s Gordon Gecko once remarked just a mile or so away from Wall Street. Since I was laid off, I drifted.
Disillusioned, I squandered. But if I am honest with myself, I would have to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, I would not have made it to this point in my life had it not been for family. Jonathan introduced me to entrepreneurship. Today, he and his wife are working from home, just like millions of others. We have not been in touch lately, just keeping our typical distance, I guess, but I’m hoping that their kid, my Godchild, is safely at home doing her online lessons. Just like my Love’s adopted kid out in the Philippines.
Speaking of which, I quite uncharacteristically turned to online dating, not so much out of loneliness, I wasn’t really, but more out of a sense of giving myself one more shot at realizing my destiny. My mom was the first family member to see a bit of the world. She went on a pilgrimage to the land where Christ our Lord and Saviour was born. Years later, she and Dad travelled to Europe, England and Ireland not once but twice. Jonathan did a brief tour over there and fell in love with Barcelona. Andrew, if I may just say so.
Well, you had quite a cultural adventure. After all, you journeyed through parts of Southeast Asia. You’ve been around. So it goes that I have yet to broaden my mind. Once the dust of COVID-19 has finally settled and I’ve settled some of my affairs here. Once I have finally gotten around to having THAT chat with my kind, wise and Loving pop, well, I’m off to the Philippines. Why the Philippines? Well, it’s just that the Love of my life, Utay, is there. And she’s waiting for me. Which reminds me. Time for a quick chat with my beautiful Filipino Queen before she starts cooking. And I turn into bed.
There is work to be done. But much do I Love you. All.
It is fair to suggest that I have come a long way since writing my so-called coming out post; Writing with Pride.
Isn’t She Beautiful
How many times I have re-read Ms. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I have lost count. Those who cannot or will not read Pride and Prejudice, perhaps you are just too tired and mentally drained right now; who isn’t in this the Year of the Virus 2020. You could watch Keira Knightley play Miss Elizabeth Bennett while Donald Sutherland plays her patient, wise and loving father. To be married to a mother like that, you would need patience.
She was quite the ignoramus according to Ms. Austen’s narrative. BUT I have a new saying for this year, 2020. Ignorance is NOT bliss. How can it be, for crying out loud? Well, I was just a few moments ago. We were talking about your father, my father too, for that matter. I must just say that it feels like this sometimes. We cannot know whether or not they read the Scripture because we’ve never really spoken to them about it.
I will someday.
Not in a video call. But face to face. But in 2021? It is looking more and more likely. Not in so many ways, Utay, but I always relate to how you may feel, how you felt as a child. Being bullied on the school playgroundwas not nice, I know. But perhaps because I was a boy, it was not nearly as often as it was for you. As a girl. I could at least still ball my fists up and challenge the bully. Today, however, it is a different matter.
Shame on you, JK
I would much rather challenge the bully with words.
Anyway, Lady Gaga kind of got it right for us when she produced that gruesome video; Born this way. For new readers, let it be known to you all that I am a hearing-impaired gentleman. I’m also bipolar in a manner of speaking. At least it’s good to know that at least I’m not conditioned with clinical depression, although there are always momentary symptoms. Utay will go through bouts of depression as well.
There’s a reason for that. Apart from the fact that she’s dealing with the profound ramifications of financial and material hardship as a consequence of COVID-19, she’s also transgendered. How it must have felt as a child, I cannot begin to imagine. But yeah, there were days when I could not hear for toffee apples and would always wonder why. Why me? And not the other kids. But then I see the kid in his wheelchair.
What goes through the minds of young parents today when their kids are ‘born this way’? Perhaps our wise, kind and Loving fathers could explain it to them. That it is not all bad. And there is much to look forward to, actually. I guess Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour got it right from the beginning. Read this at least. It will only take you a moment. It’s from the New Testament Book of John. Let’s just say that I read it over and over again.
No, Lady Gaga is not transgendered. But she’s still HOT
Daily. Religiously. What it means to be Born this way. What it really means.
“As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked Him; “Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind. Was it his own or his parents’ sin?”
Jesus answered; “His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins. He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in Him. As long as it is day, we must keep on doing the work of him who sent me; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light for the world.”
Do you get what Jesus was saying? I think I do. Anyway, Ms Austen died too early, really, but I think her heart must have been broken. She certainly lost what she might have thought was the Love of her life. Whenever my moods are melancholic I will return to texts and certain passages therefrom for a little upliftment and, in my case, as a writer, further inspiration. Thinking of Love as opposed to hate, I Love revisiting the opening lines to Pride and Prejudice. Here; have a look for yourself.
Is she? Or isn’t she?
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Pride. And Prejudice. I cannot dismiss this ironic opening statement with a grain of salt. I will not turn to a pillar of salt in doubting myself. Or what I Believe, for that matter. Utay expressed it differently when I first met her.
Jeez! She’s just made me laugh. Again. Because, yeah, she’s not perfect. Neither am I. And neither are you. There are those who believe that they are. Could this be why they have so much prejudice in their hearts? Trying to change how others, who are different from them, perceive life. There is an old literary statement, it’s rather clichéd, I might add, that suggests that there is no right or wrong answer.
Well, I beg to differ. There is the Truth. The Book of John opens with the Word of God. In the beginning, there was the Word. I Believe it to be the truth. Humph; Jesus put it quite well too. People wished to stone a woman to death allegedly for committing adultery. But Jesus nonchalantly suggested to the rabid crowd;
“He who has committed no sin may cast the first stone.”
They could not respond to that profound remark and walked away out of shame or embarrassment. Jesus never condemned the woman but He did ask her to not sin again. We are all born sinners, so that’s kind of challenging at times, as you know. Whilst the setting of her romance was completely different from ours today, I could not help but notice the irony in the novel’s title. Pride. And Prejudice.
Owing to the complications of lockdowns around the world, Pride Day could not be celebrated or commemorated in the traditional manner with all the flamboyance and fanfare that so many men and women, both young and old, are characteristically and spontaneously wont to do. A rather tall and muscular chap in stiletto heels and festooned in coloured ostrich feathers. A rather butch gal proudly wearing her biker’s jacket, firmly grasping her wan lover around the neck. A shriekingly beautiful transgendered woman, strutting to and fro, the envy of many an insecure cisgender woman.
Pride!
Not that the insecurity is anyone’s fault, it’s just that so many unreasonable expectations have been placed on their shoulders. And they are still being told what to do. How to look and what to wear. And how to behave. Otherwise. Well, you might know. But, jeez, the courage of THAT woman. Have you any idea what poverty-stricken black transgendered women go through each and every day of their lives? And that’s in the freaking US of A, a country of which so much was expected. How ironic. The land of the free, home to the brave. In the USA alone, said poverty-stricken black transgendered women are the MOST marginalized amongst society at large.
Don’t believe me? Well, you could ask Utay, but then again, her story is different. And she is, after all, my beautiful Filipino Queen. You could ask one of the most recognisable spokeswomen for equal and human rights across the board. Why not ask Janet Mock? She’s a brilliant writer. And of course, she speaks from personal experience. Because after all, she’s a black transgendered woman. The things she had to go through.
I have often wondered why Mrs Woolf REALLY committed suicide. Was it really the depression? How does one woman come to be that depressed, living a reasonably secluded and privileged life, so much so that she is left with no other choice but to take her own life. She spoke highly of her husband. He was a fine editor of some of the most profound modern classics. Mrs Dalloway. To the Lighthouse.
I’ve read all three texts, of course. Over and over again. The stricken sufferer of post-traumatic stress disorder owing to his participation in the senseless First World War, the war that was supposedly going to be the war that ended all wars. But not twenty years later. I often wondered about this. Of course, it would have been long before I had met Utay, my best friend, my partner, the Love of my life.
But had we been living in nineteen-thirties Germany, it’s quite possible that we would not be alive today. I think Mrs Woolf had thoughts about National Socialism, Adolf Hitler’s deranged mangling of Charles Darwin’s philosophies on the origin of the species and the survival of the fittest. The young and talented painter, abused over and over again by her father, simply not able to tell her mother, because in that day and age; who was going to believe such a thing.
And how on earth could a young, brilliant, handsome aristocrat transition into a rather saucy-looking middle-aged woman. I’ve always been curious about the Statue of Liberty. You know, that beacon of equality, liberty and freedom looking across the Atlantic Ocean, holding her torch aloft, gazing towards where the World Trade Centre once stood. No, not so much the irony of it all. A land to which many aspire to.
A land to which they can go to be free and enjoy equal opportunities, not so much that. But get this. What if I told you that the Statue of Liberty is, strictly speaking, transgendered? Dare to imagine that if you can. But no; you don’t need to. Just revisit the artist’s original designs and see for yourself. I remain enthralled. But I have to wonder. For how much longer will the Statue of Liberty remain standing?
Nor for that matter, British Brexiteer of note, Boris Johnson.
A Lady with a Lamp
Hell no! Jacinda Adern. Madam Prime Minister, won’t you please stand up to the world and take a bow. Oh, but wait! You’re already doing that. Jeez, folks! Look at the way this woman has stood up to COVID-19. Not Russian tsar, Vladimir Putin. Not Chinese President Xi Jinping. Jacinda Adern.
What an awesome woman!
New Zealand’s re-elected Labour Party Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern, forced me to sit up and take note of what she was doing to and for her country on at least four fronts. Her actions and achievements as the Land of the White Cloud’s PM have not escaped the notice of countless numbers of admirers from around the world. Does she have her detractors? I’m sure she does. Which politician doesn’t?
Just ask POTUS no 45, Donald Trump. Although it might be more accurate to label this man a carpet-bagger. Mrs Adern, to my mind, is a libertarian of the highest order. But she also made waves as the consummate multi-tasker, an acquired skill that many leading women from around the world are quite familiar with. There are notable exceptions of course. Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, also known as the Iron Lady back then. Here in South Africa, where I’m plying my trade for now, former president Jacob Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, springs to mind.
The ominous changing of the guard
Here, she has been mockingly and derisively been referred to as this country’ de facto prime minister. This is in reference to her handling of the lockdown restrictions that have literally crippled the lives of millions of South Africans. Currently, South Africa has the fifth highest rate of infections as a consequence of the novel coronavirus. New Zealand, on the other hand, has amongst the lowest. It is fair to suggest that the moment the virus left the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread rapidly across the oceans, these two women took rapid action.
But they went in different directions, as far as I am concerned. Ms Adern’s actions as her country’s leader appears to have reaped positive dividends. Indeed, New Zealand was one of the first countries in which a sense of normality was restored. South Africa, on the other hand, remains in a state of crisis. This, in part, is thanks to Zuma’s role. Dlamini-Zuma is better known to South Africans for her hand in a variety of scandals, starting with the so-called Sarafina scandal when she was the country’s health minister, to her current handling of SA’s lockdown.
In the latter case, it is alleged that she has benefited monetarily from illegal cigarette smugglers across the board. Rumour has it that these guys made donations towards her campaign to become the ruling African National Congress’s next president. In the event, she lost narrowly to now-South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa. But billionaire (in rand terms) that he is, rumour has it that he too was funded by thieves.
But enough of South Africa, my home country. Let’s talk about New Zealand, the country of choice for at least two of my cousins abroad. Let’s talk about Jacinda Adern, in particular. As I was saying much earlier, at least four highlights of her recent political career has struck me with much admiration. Before I highlight these for you here, let me throw my hat in the ring once more by nominating this fine lady as Person of the Year for 2020, the historic year of the virus. Which brings me to her first round of memorable achievements in office.
Mother to a nation
Time and space does not allow me to mention these in detail, so allow me to provide you with just a few mementos which focus on PM Adern’s handling of the COVID crisis, the massacre of fifty Muslims, the plight of the country’s Maoris and – tra-laa! – last but not least, her pledge to LGBTQ+ folks.
COVID-19
Once it became evident that the entire world was in a pandemic, Jacinda Adern acted.
From day one, Jacinda Adern was not only the consummate multi-tasker, she was a good listener. She listened and learned. And then she acted. Overnight, she was a mobiliser of her country’s people. But because this country’s lockdown restrictions were particularly harsh, she acted as a true mother to the nation. She informed and educated the people of New Zealand in an effort to minimize the likely damage to the livelihoods of her people.
Of course, being the lady that she is, Mrs Adern will be the first to acknowledge that she could not and did not deal with COVID-19 alone. But yeah, much like former wartime British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill did during World War II, she kinda rallied the troops. Err, Boris, are you reading this? Nah! Don’t suppose you are.
Listening with empathy
New Zealand Massacre of Muslims
Once a rabid racist took it upon himself to gun down dozens of worshipping Muslims, the Prime Minister acted.
She began by rushing to the scene as it were, showing the utmost respect for the grieving Muslims by donning a modest hijab and meeting with the families of those who were killed and wounded. She reassured the grievers that both she and the rest of the country were united in their sorrow. And then she made a solemn oath to change that country’s gun laws, this in a country that ironically boasts amongst the world’s lowest rates of crime and murder.
She came down pretty damn hard on New Zealand’s intelligence agencies. Immediate financial assistance was also offered to all those who lost breadwinners during this massacre. And today, the self-styled Australian white supremacist is behind bars. For life.
Mahal Kita!
The Country’s Indigenous People, the Maoris
Ms Adern’s track record this year led me to believe instinctively that both she and her Labour Party have done much to restore the rights and dignity of this islands indigenous people, the Maoris.
It is recorded that Mrs Adern is that country’s first prime minister to visit Waitangi. Instead of talking, she listened. She listened to all the local Maoris’ grievances. And then she was afforded the opportunity to respond in kind. She made no promises, those typical of a career politician, but she did ask the Maoris to hold her and her cabinet colleagues to account. She’s also asking them whether she and New Zealand’s politicians are doing enough to lift the indigenous people out of poverty.
But she acted. A list of reforms as long as my scrawny arm were introduced. Thankfully, they focused mostly on the Maori kids. And school leavers will at least be eligible for at least one year of free tertiary education. They won’t be going to college or varsity hungry either. Fingers crossed, by the time Mrs Adern leaves office, young Maoris will be receiving three years of free tertiary education.
Pride
Many more reforms in behalf of New Zealand’s indigenous people have been introduced since Mrs Adern took office.
Marching for LGBTQ+ Rights
Our heartstrings were tugged a bit when my beautiful partner and love noticed Jacinda gaily marching down her city’s streets on Pride Day 2020. LGBTQ+ marchers and supporters over there could do that because it was safe to do so. We and most gays, lesbians, bisexual men and women, transgendered men and women, and blatantly queer folks, and their lovers, friends and supporters could not. Because it was not safe to do so.
Incidentally, my partner, Utay, is a transgendered woman from the Philippines. She’s also a human rights activist as well. Of course, while she may be a prime minister, I would venture to suggest that Jacinda Adern is a human rights activist too, much in the same way that former Republic of Ireland President, Mary Robinson is, and the late Mrs Helen Suzman was in my country, South Africa.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister made the acknowledgement that even her country still has some way to go towards removing the gender and sexual prejudice expressed against LGBTQ+ people in New Zealand. But she did express pride in the work done to date in behalf of New Zealand’s marginalized folks. Well, Pride to you too, Mrs Adern! Given the work that Utay is doing on ground level just outside of the Philippine’s capital, she would be pleased to note that the New Zealand Prime Minister wishes to focus more on the high levels of mental health and self-harm issues that younger members of the LGBTQ+ people are dealing with.
Suffer the children to come unto Me
Young boys and girls, in other words.
Shaughan Woodcock, director of Pride 2020 over there, expressed excitement at Mrs Adern’s showing of both physical and emotional support. He had this to say. Its profound, so I’ll quote his statement in full.
‘I think the overall message is that we are being led by a progressive government, a government that stands for all groups not just some. It also sends a very clear message that New Zealand is leading the way around basic human rights and human rights for our rainbow community, and that it is time for the other countries to step up.’
A Born leader
Take another bow, Mrs Adern. You’ve done us all very proud indeed!
Mark Whelan 