White Twitter was never going to be ready for Nomboniso Gasa’s 33-tweet lesson on the role of #WhiteTwitter. (There were actually 34 tweets – two separate tweets were numbered as “5”.)
Gasa is a researcher and analyst on gender, politics and culture in South Africa. Her expertise in these areas, together with her love for microblogging, have made her something of a go-to-person on these issues. Gasa is known for her multi-part Twitter lectures, which often concern race, class and gender.
On Monday afternoon Gasa turned her attention - and that of her 15,000 followers - to White Twitter, something she had not done before.
1, Listen up #WhiteTwitter, I have a few things to tell your arrogant & ignorant selves. First let me define what is #WhiteTwitter to me
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
2. What is #WhiteTwitter to me? It is a bunch of white people who are not able to look at the world beyond their narrow tunnel vision.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
3. Mock ‘outrage’ & contrived sense of injustice at AA everything else aimed to take us forward, lies a sense insecurity. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
4. Insecurity is part of normal human response. Change is unsettling. Deal with your own fears, anger and bigotry. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
5. Most of us are unsure most of the time. But most of us do not walk around with presumed superiority, victimhood. We deal. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
5. Most of of us have struggled very hard to come to terms with this country’s history and present. We continue to do. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
6. The majority of the group I call #WhiteTwitter lives a life of extraordinary privilege. A privilege earned at the back of others. Yes! — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
7. Those who are permanently ‘outraged’ & ‘wounded’, are not really in pain. What you want #WhiteTwitter is dominance. You aint getting it. — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
8. What you also want #WhiteTwitter is to continue to define the past and the present on your own terms. In ways that erase you privilege.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
9. That too, you are not going to get #WhiteTwitter. If you want to go into the past and open it, let’s go. Let’s deal with it truthfully.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
10. I have never addressed myself to #WhiteTwiter before. It is an irrelevant group in my life. Why? I chose not to give bigots oxygen. — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
11. So, why now? Two hings that have triggered this and they have come from a bunch of people who are intent on distortions. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
12. It is historically untrue that white people built this economy and this country. At least not alone. It was built by all our ancestors. — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
13. Women who wiped your backs & at times breastfed you, enabled your parents to participate in the economy & enjoy privilege. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
14. Economies are built by those who are at the bottom of the ladder. They enable countries to thrive at their expense. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
15. In South Africa, they were & still are predominantly black. This is structurally constructed. There is a history to this. #WhiteTwitter — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
16. Who built this country and this economy? Their names don’t appear in history books & no monuments named after them. #WhiteTwitter
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
17. It is also historically and factually untrue that there ‘tax payers’ are people of a particular category. Almost all South Africans do.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
18. Do not beat your chests so hard about the pain opt paying taxes and seeing them wasted #WhiteTwitter. You are not alone. — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
19. Remember #WhiteTwitter that many people who received zilch from the state paid taxes and also paid with labour that cost their lives. — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
20. Take any old payslip of a miner in the 1970s and the tax deductions there. Take the payslip of a farm worker and see none. Right? — Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
21. This is how an economy works #WhiteTwitter. Even the farm workers who were paid by the tot system actually paid tax. How?
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
22. Those farms were heavily subsidised. Now do the maths #WhiteTwitter. The labourers actually subsidised the economy. They still do.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
23. These are facts of then and now. You may not like them. But hey, we don’t like most things. but that does not change the truth. Deal!
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
24. You continue to enjoy extremely privileged lives #WhiteTwitter. Public money can be better spent. But it is not yours alone & we agree.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
25. You also have to accept many of us are not going to nanny you through transition and change. I am not prepared to do that #WhiteTwitter
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
26. Those of you who find the idea of being equal to black people traumatic, please find a therapist. It is not our business. #WhiteTwitter
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
27. This is how things works in life. Change is inevitable. You can embrace it & together we will enjoy the ride and feel your life expand.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
28. Mourn you ‘lost status of dominance’ far from me. I refuse to to indulge you #WhiteTwitter. I won’t do your work for you. I have mine.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
28. Mourn you ‘lost status of dominance’ far from me. I refuse to to indulge you #WhiteTwitter. I won’t do your work for you. I have mine.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
29. That is all I have to say to you #WhiteTwitter. I broke my rule of not addressing you because of historical facts. That is my bizinisi!
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
30. We share a country, a difficult history &complex present. I don t care much about your bigotry. I do care about historical distortions.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
31.When you distort that history, you erase my grandma who did bum wiping for 40 + years. You erase migrant workers from SADC. #WhiteTwitter
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
32. History is as much my business as it yours. We we meet here, in the present #WhiteTwitter. take off your mask of arrogance & privilege.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
33. Drops mic. Those who have ears have heard. The rest ah well… enjoy delusions…I am gone.
— Undivorceable Mama (@nombonisogasa) November 3, 2014
Gasa said this was the last she’d tweet about #WhiteTwitter but it wasn’t meant to be. She posted an 18-part follow-up later that same day. (You can read that series here.)
It’s unclear exactly what set Gasa off on the topic but she later tweeted a follower saying, “Generally, I don’t waste my time on #WhiteTwitter. But this ‘we built this country’ & historical distortions gets my goat!”