OPINIONISTA: The coconut’s dilemma — a foot in the black and white worlds, but acceptance in neither By Lwando Xaso
After becoming conscious of the subordinating ties of whiteness, “coconuts” struggle to integrate with the broader black community in pursuit of a common cause. What is missing is a discussion on how the conscious coconut can contribute to the common cause without apologising for where they live, where they went to school, where they work or how they talk.
There are those who prescribe that to be “authentically black” you must remain in one place linguistically, mentally, socio-economically and geographically. And when you do not adhere to that, you pay the price. A price paid by Tambu in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s classic novel which resonated deeply with me in High School,.
The torment that Tambu feels in the novel is best illustrated in real life by the life of Leanita McClain. The words that introduced me to Leanita’s life and work were “My life abounds in incongruities”. Leanita, who was born on 3 October 1951 in Chicago, grew up poor, black and intellectually gifted.
Despite her claim to live in both the black and white worlds, Leanita was in fact viewed ambivalently by both. Leanita expressed her own frustration aptly: “I am a member of the black middle class who has had it with being patted on the head by white hands and slapped in the face by black hands for my success.
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