In celebration of Africa Month, which was recognised in May, Angelo Louw released his debut book The Problem with Black People.
The book is described as a selection of writings spanning his decades of experience as a columnist and magazine editor. It also unpacks the intricacies of race and race relations in contemporary South Africa through what he described as an intersectional lens.
Activism was Louw’s response to being tired of the world boxing him, and his communities, into what he calls outdated ideas it has of them. He said the book title was ironic. “Very often, the plight of black and brown people is met with this type of rhetoric and gaslighting when, in fact, the problems black people face are systemically imposed,” said Louw.
The Blackheath resident said he had always been a writer and storyteller. “In fact, that’s my strength as a filmmaker – the storytelling. I realised that the things I wrote about all focused on the symptoms of systemic racism, unemployment, many social ills, and our health crisis. That’s when the decision [was made] to present my work as a single body of work, in a book.”
From the book, he hoped the knowledge imparted would give people fighting racism an upper hand in debates, in their workplace disputes, academic writing and even in bar fights. “Every discussion about racism is an opportunity to change someone’s mind, and what better way to do so than with facts.” He also hoped that through it, people became empathetic, as it was hard enough for people of colour to exist in a system that was designed to disempower them and then to face blame for it too.
With June being Youth Month, the book is available for free download on the AfroStory app. The app is trying to promote a culture of reading across the continent by creating access to great titles from the best African authors.
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