It is the first post of 2021 and I start with the colour white/safed. White is often associated with a sense of peace, purity, innocence, a new beginning, of wiping the slate clean, a blank canvas and opportunity for you to do/write your own acts/words. Some people find white serene, tranquil and pure, while others may feel it is stark and cold; lacking any “colour”. In the occident, the colour white is often associated with weddings, hospitals, and angels and is used to convey a sense of purity and cleanliness. On the other hand, in the orient, white is symbolically linked to a colour of mourning and sadness, but underlying this is also a sense of nothing and renewal.

Here I share the words of poet Benjamin Zephaniah and boxer Mohammad Ali on what happens when you invert black for white…

White Comedy by Benjamin Zephaniah
  
 I waz whitemailed
 By a white witch,
 Wid white magic
 An white lies,
 Branded by a white sheep
 I slaved as a whitesmith
 Near a white spot
 Where I suffered whitewater fever.
 Whitelisted as a whiteleg
 I waz in de white book
 As a master of white art,
 It waz like white death.
  
 People called me white jack
 Some hailed me as a white wog,
 So I joined de white watch
 Trained as a white guard
 Lived off the white economy.
 Caught and beaten by de whiteshirts
 I waz condemned to a white mass,
 Don't worry,
 I shall be writing to de Black House.