Dolezal race talks to continue in SA
Controversial American race activist, Rachel Dolezal, will be speaking at several events around the country despite calls for the organisers to cancel the events.
Dolezal is known for identifying as black, despite being born white.
Tsiloab Holdings Managing Director, Clyde Ramalaine, organised the talks.
He says Dolezal will be part of discussions about a non racial South African society.
"The project is aimed at talking about race and not just racism. It would appear that to some people race is not a problem but it's only racism that is a problem. We want to open the conversation and create a platform to engage with people and organisations to promote the idea of what would give content to the subject of a non-racial society" says Ramalaine.
Civil society group, Understanding Decolonization and Cultural Appropriation, started a petition last week to stop Dolezal from speaking.
"Offensive is not a strong enough word. In this country we are still unpacking white supremacy and its impact and how violent it can be. This is definitely not one of the people we would want to talk to us about racial identities," says founder Yanisha Teelock.
Ramalaine says arguments against Dolezal are based on morality and are not strong enough.
"There are those who are from the white pristine idea and worship the white identity as theirs. Then there are those from the black consciousness movement. These are all elites and those who are liberal. I tried to understand how they think and what they accuse her of and found that most of their arguments were based on morality. For me this has to do with morality but the subject of self-definition and because I am persuaded that race is a myth" he says.
Ramalaine says they are aware of threats of disruptions from members of the public but that this will be mitigated.
"It is the democratic right for every South African to have an opinion and we respect that right. What we will not tolerate is people assuming they can dictate our freedom in terms of what we think is important for us. For the big event on the 19th we will have vouchers, if you don't have a voucher you will not be allowed inside. Other events will take place at different universities and this will be finalised. We have also taken our time to write back to those who have written to us opposing this event" says Ramalaine.