Internationally acclaimed performance artist Tracey Rose was muscled out of the Urban Voices International Poetry festival in Johannesburg this week after clashing with a visiting black American poet over the identity of South Africa’s coloured community.
At the Johannesburg event, a member of the United States-based The Last Poets, Abiodun Oyewole, branded South Africans racist for using the term ”coloured” rather than ”black”.
Rose said the comment, and the fact that the crowd cheered it, infuriated her. ”Such ignorant statements breed intolerance,” she said. Rose is herself coloured.
When Umar bin Hassan of The Last Poets offered the microphone to a screaming Rose, she insisted coloured South Africans were of Khoisan and European extraction and were not black.
When she refused to return the microphone, organiser Zee Cube forcefully tried to take it from her. Cube said he had subsequently escorted her from the hall, telling her she could return once she calmed down. Rose said she left voluntarily.
”She was invited to say something at the show, but this became a monologue and a seminar,” said festival founder and director Roshnie Moonsammy.
Moonsammy said that after the event Rose kissed Oyewole on the neck, telling him he smelt of ”coconut”.
Last year local poet Lesego Rampolokeng, acting as master of ceremonies, was barred from the stage after making critical comments on the state of the nation, the arts and corporate sponsorship.
”Urban Voices has become a commercial venture. It doesn’t have the same rigour and commitment of two years ago,” said Rose.
Rose is best known locally for her Sarah Bartman series and Span II.