The 28 steps into a Black Reality in White America

The 28 steps into a Black Reality in White America

Ubuntu/Obuntu philosophies are notorious for exacting community reviews on individual actions. The Lockean proviso is notorious for absolving those who objectify humans as property. 

There is an economic, cultural, development, political, religious and colonization philosophy into which sanctity of life; preservation of dignity; promotion of health; ensuring quality life; uplifting those in need; leveraging agency, autonomy and self-determination so that individuals can experience the fullest benefits out of their existence are sacred and accessible. 

The outcome would be a buttress upon which privilege is equated to universal access to opportunities to address needs. It is something to be proud of. Or is it? This is a vignette of 28 pictures drawn by a White person who found time to depict different versions of the words “Black Lives Matter.” 

 Art can be deciphered from a figurative or abstract style. In a figurative style one uses material subjects like humans, animals, objects or articles to depict emotions. When it comes to abstract style, colours, lines and shapes are used to depict emotions. 

These vignettes are bending away from these two views of art and instead use the experience of Whiteness and Blackness. In these drawings we are introduced to two sides of the same life.

I am a Black Person who recently immigrated to USA from Africa. I am going to use the Ubuntu/Obuntu lens to appreciate what drew me to ask permission to use a White friend’s art drawings to compose these vignettes. 

I am also using the knowledge I gathered from my University course on appreciating art, most especially Western Art. 

When I use the term friend, I have used it as a Black African. Knowing that we are all sojourners; knowing that this is the reality in the philosophy of  ‘I am because you are’; knowing that I continue showing gratitude for having been in many circles of upliftment organised by this very person in question; knowing that I was a beneficiary of Shanti, at which this person in question is an animator, and Shanti is one of the touchstones against which I primed my San Franciscanness as I engaged in community work; knowing that my list of White friends may not be that long but it has the person in question as one of them on that list; and lastly, knowing that this friendship was a gift to me and adds to the energy of my cosmos. 

My name is Muyunga-Mukasa, Tom Rogers.

The artist friend is: Gregg Cassin. 

Gregg Cassin, painted 28 “Black Lives Matter” picture boards and shared them on his Facebook account. This was at a time when George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks were killed. Recall, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest when a White Police Officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than 8 minutes. On the night of June 12, 2020, Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American man, was shot and killed by Atlanta Police Department.

The 28 drawings represented lessons, values and beliefs:

 Useful and beautiful
Appreciate living in a diverse society

   Feeling of empathy


   Understanding and accepting

   Boiling down complexities to simplicity

    Appreciating a culture other than yours

Protesting violence against Blacks

.Explore ideas we were not conscious of before

   Celebrate creation of Blackness by a White Hand and Whiteness by a Black Hand

The hospitable, caring and compassionate

        Seeing oneself in others

      Strength drawn from a recognition of human worth

 Wearing each other’s shoes

Seeing the wider perspective

        Belief in the good of everyone

                    Choosing hope

         Connecting with the unfamiliar

   Creating memes upholding forgiveness because “who forgives wins”

       Illustrate the consistency of diversity of the human race

Knowing something about Black pain is knowing so much about White pain

 Black reality and White spaces

Humans created for togetherness

  Facing Humanity’s humour

   Taking time to acknowledge the existence of a Black

   Reserve a Black spot in a White space

  Little things make a big difference

 A stranger deserves dignity

Action is a loud noise


1.    
                                     Be nice to each other, you are sojourners!

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