Nomzamo Mbatha: 'For the first time this week I cried for the black race, my people'
Actress Nomzamo Mbatha took to Instagram to pour her heart out at the murder of George Floyd, saying that his voice and plea will stay with her for life.
Floyd died last week after his neck was pinned down by a white police officer's knee in Minneapolis, USA.
His death sparked protests around the world and Nomzamo added her voice to the outrage by sharing a cartoon on Instagram of a policeman sitting next to a little boy. In the post, the officer asks the boy what he wants to be when he grows up. The boy responds by saying “alive”.
“We witnessed modern day lynching through the murder of George Floyd. I’ll never forget his voice and plea. A part of me was wishing I didn’t see that video, but to look away is to deny. We must witness the pain to know just how we are seen. Unseen”, Nomzamo wrote in the caption.
She reflected on the deaths of Collins Khosa, allegedly at the hands of SA police, and Tina Ezekwe, in Nigeria, admitting that it brought her to tears.
“In Lagos, Nigeria 16-year-old Tina Ezekwe was fatally shot, the video of her lifeless body being dragged through a crowd is bone chilling. Today, for the first time this week I cried. For the black race. For my people. For injustice. For oppression. For systemic and institutionalised racism. For inequality”.
“I cried because I’m also tired. That for our lives to matter, we have to be exceptional, toe the line and remain palatable and apologetic at all times. Not too loud, too threatening and too black, yet the only side of my black you are willing to accept is the one that benefits and feeds your culture-vulture agenda. Not the one that has to deal with having to prove their worth and right to life”.
Nomzamo added that “the social-inequities and injustice have always remained prevalent” and. are “everyday realities, same script but different names”
“This is for every black person that has been trying to breathe since she or he was born and is now the centre of our grief today. Again, we remember you and we will always remember this feeling.”
She said the revolution had started and urged her followers to “take to the streets”.
“The revolution is now, justice not peace and sign the petitions. Take to the streets, donate to the causes and take action.”