Kilps’ Blog

Was David Bullard being racist?

So David Bullard has been fired from the Sunday Times for a supposedly racist column he wrote.

Now without getting too hung up about the issue the column was really doing three things; claiming that Africa would have been exploited by whoever got here first, that Africa would not be where it is by itself and that African leaders are always looking for someone to blame their problems on. He satirises the ideas of the evil of the west, to a certain degree, and points out what the west has brought to Africa.

While it may seem that he was mocking old African traditions, but rather he is mocking those who still hold onto them. By being satirical in the way he is he is mocking those who hold onto these traditions but also adds value to what they meant back when they where relevant.

Suddenly the indigenous population realise what they have been missing all along: someone to blame. At last their prayers have been answered.

This is the only other line which one might be able to consider racist; but all that he is talking about is the tendency to blame the legacy of colonialism for problems.

So while the column may have been out of line it asks some valuable questions; can we blame colonialism and are western ideals wrong?

Parts of a letter to News24 sums it up quiet nicely:

This is a perfect example of what David was trying to portray in his letter: the previously disadvantaged desperately need someone to blame for all the ills of present and past. In this case he is the scapegoat for having written a short satire (if anyone out there understands this), and a rather amusing article.

Jouster,
Pretoria

Ivo Vegter has some interesting ideas about what may have been the real motivation behind all of this.

Maybe I am wrong and the column was to a degree racist, but I can’t see how that would have been it’s primary purpose.