By The UJ branch of PASMA displayed a collage of images to celebrate some of history’s most prolific black figures outside the Student Centre at APK on Friday.
“This is just to say that we have black excellence in terms of authors, scholars and heroes,” said the chairperson of the PASMA UJ branch, Tebogo Serala. “The society is giving us a misinterpretation of our history as people.”
The images depicted the oppression of black people dating as far back as the transatlantic slave trade. Leaders of black liberation movements from across the world were featured in the display, including Thomas Sankara and Steve Biko.
Serala said that he felt black history was not taken seriously. “We live in a society that tries to eliminate the history of black people.”
One person who preferred to remain anonymous said that there was a need for such initiatives as racial discrimination was still prevalent on the continent.
“The displays are good for [helping] us to remember our history; but for the current generation, it has the ability to produce hatred,” the source said. “Everyone now needs to participate in order for this to not happen again.”
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A member of the PASMA, Vhuhwavho Dzhivhuho said that the choice to use pictures to send a message was deliberate.
“Images are very powerful; at times, people should see their reality through images,” Dzhivhuho said.
“In psychology, they’ll tell you that insane people run away from reality. It shows us our sickness; we are here to heal that sickness,” he added.
Serala shared Dzhivhuho’s sentiments. “Basically what we are doing is just dismantling the nature of psychological, racial violence and what it has done or the impact it has had on black people as a whole,” he said.
The display served as the final part of the ‘Black Psychology week’ hosted by PASMA, which took place every day of this week between 15:30 and17:30.
All images courtesy of Gaby Ndongo.
Youth Chronicle 