As we face numerous instances of police and armed forces brutality in South Africa, we note with regret the circumstances playing themselves out in the United States. The stock standard retort by many Americans is that all lives matter.

Not to trivialise or gainsay the fact that all lives do matter, I would like to draw an analogy of a row of houses with one on fire. The firefighters don’t hose down all the houses in the row, they focus on the burning house.

I’ve experienced first-hand, the discrimination of the police force in the United States and have been told of many instances of African Americans being pulled over for DWB – Driving While Black. Which continues unchecked until today.

Whilst we stand in solidarity with African Americans struggling oppression, and being ever mindful of our own past, we pray that all forms of discrimination are eradicated from our society and that common sense prevails with leaders around the world, today more than ever.

We all have conscious work to do in this regard.