This came about after a friend and I were discussing a traditional ceremony I was supposed to go to. I was not looking forward to the smell of goat that was going to greet me when I reached my grandmother's house. I arrived and I was expected to chop carrots with exeptional African speed and then tend to everyone's beck and call with a good Tswana girl's smile. Then I had to cover up my 10inch weave in my mom's scarf that didn't go very well with my jeggings and knit top.
Thats one thing. The unthinkable was however when I was speaking to my boss a few weeks later.
I asked him for the email address for the CEO of Umcebo Mine.
I said "Frank, whats the email address for Um..Umt..Umcebo mine", Frank looked at me with a laugh building up in his gut. He took his cigarrette out of his mouth and said "What the fuck Lebo! Its UMCEBO, what kind of a black girl are you? I said, "you know what I meant"
Thats when I realised that snobs think I'm ghetto, my family thinks I'm a snob and some white people think I might not be black enough.
Its hard being a black girl in 2011, especially when you just wanna be YOU. I like to dance to house at a club in Soweto and I'm just as comfy in Sandton drinking Cosmos with my girls. I have great white friends that I relate to and black friends that I relate to just the same. I have a private school twang and I sometimes shout "ayeye!" when I hear my favourite Lulo Cafe track. I jump up and down when I hear my favourite Ellie Golding song. I do a pretty mean shuffle and a decent hlokoloza. I listen to YFM in the morning, Highveld during the day and Metro in the afternoon. I sometimes wear a leapard pint tank top (yes the taxi driver kind with the actual leapard roaring...taxi chic) and I happen to know alot about Impressionist art and Gender Discourse.
Whats wrong with that?!
