My friend Megan just drew my attention to this most excellent article by Max Du Preez titled ‘Let go of the anger’ with a little warning disclaimer that i should not read the comments. [Honestly, why would i do that to myself? And yes now EVERYthing in me wants to read the comments – thankx Megs!]
Do yourself a favour – go read the whole article, and then come back here. i will wait.
[waits]
Ah good, you’re back.
Max touches on something that i have been thinking about and struggling with for a long time. Obviously there are the Viv’s and Ric’s and whatever he/she is calling themselves this week who don’t get it and won’t get it and aren’t trying to. It is going to take something monumental for many of them to shift. We can’t waste too much of our time on them. But for all those who genuinely love this country and are really honestly wanting to see positive change and really treading water in terms of having any idea of what to do, this is where the conversation needs to continue.
Max said it better than i can:
Too many whites moan about the deterioration of service delivery and about corruption without acknowledging that their quality of life today is higher than two decades ago and that much of the country is still functioning very well. Too many are so caught up in their arrogant cocoons to see that the only real poverty and suffering are among the black majority. Sensitive issues such as affirmative action, black economic empowerment, crime and farm attacks are abused as sjamboks wielded indiscriminately and with great anger.
Just under the surface, is the feeling I mostly get, lies the feeling that “black” equals “incompetent”.
Too many voices from the black community simply focus on white privilege with little attention being paid to how the governments since 1994 have failed to bring about a more just society. Too few articulate what they think should be done to create a society where most citizens feel happy and acknowledged.
It is too simplistic to simply blame the white community in 2015 of perpetuating black poverty after 1994.
The point is that there IS truth in both statements. We get what a lot of the problem is and we need to be more open and free in acknowledging where from our side [and the colour we unwittingly represent] there is a problem. And that the problem we see in the other side is not the only problem, that if solved, would suddenly miraculously turn things around.
It is a both/and scenario and i think people on either side [again, the whole Us vs. Them rearing its ugly head] need to really be able to own up to their proverbial poo.
‘Let go of the anger’ is the cry. And this interesting article written by Antjie Krog, author of ‘Begging to be Black’ that i recently read, gives perhaps some picture of how this can take place.
The anger that we need to let go of, the grievances that we have [which often are completely legitimate as Max mentions above] can forever mist up our eyes and paralyse our actions if we don’t move beyond them.
One place i have observed this has been in conversations with some of my black friends who live in the townships who have no doubt that land restitution is of the highest order, but seem to have little practical idea of how this might be brought about. Which becomes a little frustrating. Even when giving them a carte blanche scenario where they have all the power for a day or a month or whatever it is to bring about the change in relation to land restitution, there doesn’t seem to be a plan as to how it could actually happen.
Is there possibly a way to not let go of the ideal that is land reparation [and continue to meet and wrestle and figure out how we can turn that idea into a practical solution in the best possible way] but get started on some more manageable directly achievable movements?
Is there a way where we step back from complaints about service delivery and corruption [not saying either of those are okay, but just move those issues to the side] and focus on the quality of life we have and question whether there might be any changes we could make now that might be helpful. One example might be if we have someone who cleans our house or looks after our children, to look at what we pay them and assess if it is minimum wage or a living wage?
Can we accept that the government is not pulling its weight in a way that benefits all its citizens, but instead of having that as our main banner call, perhaps shift our view to provincial or even more local forms of government and start lobbying for necessary changes there?
It is time for us to move away from purely ideological and hypothetical and wishful thinking arguments and conversations and get our hands more dirty with the practical solutions that are around us. What might some of those solutions be? Please feel free to share some ideas in the comments section.
[For this post, don’t even waste your time with disparaging racial comments – anything that is not a direct response to this post or a possible solution idea will be instantly deleted]
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This is a lovely, encouraging, helpful, probing, well written post.
Oh wow, thank you. And also for drawing my attention to the Max article!
Oh, I love this! Love what Max is saying and with your honesty in wrestling with it, Brett…
I think you nailed it with this line:
“It is time for us to move away from purely ideological and hypothetical and wishful thinking arguments and conversations and get our hands more dirty with the practical solutions that are around us.”
Unless these conversations are held in the context of meaningful relationships, friendships & the reality of lives of black & white South Africans – where we seek to genuinely understand one another – we won’t move forward…
I don’t know what the solution is, but Antjie Krog’s article reminded me that although we have a very deep history of segregation, we also have a history of reconciliation that we can tap into. We have the stories & lessons learnt from the generation involved with the TRC.
Perhaps one of the starting points for our time and our generation is to seek wisdom and insight from those who sought out & lived out reconciliation in their generation. We wouldn’t be where we are without these heroes, so let us find ways to stand on their shoulders and build on their legacy for our generation and future generations of South Africa. And I don’t only mean reading their books… I mean building relationships with black & white who found the path of reconciliation some 25 years ago and years before that.
Ah, so great Dave. Nailed it further with the mention of relationships. That is the only solution to Us vs. Them that I see and also to many of the situations and issues we face today. Once we start facing them together that is when we will see change start to happen more deeply which will hopefully have a run on effect… More!
Wow! Brett… so excited and encouraged to be reading your blog with these extremely important issues. The truth is there is no quick fix solution to any of this. Building relationships is the only way we can truly heal. Largely our lack of understanding and actual real life knowledge of each other is what keeps us all divided. I love this country and I want to be part of the solution even its messy.
Thankx Jules and absolutely. Why are we always so afraid of messy? Possibly because of the lack of comfort and the presence of cost that might be around? So super stoked you are in this because the more of us that simply put up our hands and make ourselves known the easier and better it will be to translate to action…
Hey, my questions. 1.what do you think about changing Rhodes Memorial to Madiba Memorial? It’s white privilege and wrong to study under this Memorial. 2. Open land like Rondebosch common to be allocated to the poor? Why should it be allowed to go be a park for middle class whites? 3. All whites should do 1 hour per day community service to make a mends for the past until 2025. Please let’s discuss this good way forward.
Point 3? Are you for real?
I’m all for community service, but why should ‘all whites’ do this? What wrong have I personally done to deserve this blanket ‘punishment’? Community service is about SERVICE, service is not a noun it is a verb….If I do not want to serve I will not. One cannot be forced to do good deeds, one must WANT to do this?
And just a completely random and totally controversial thought – if the majority of our country is unemployed why not afford them the opportunity to participate in this community service and in such a way make use of their ‘idle hands’? this would unfortunately have to include ‘non-whites’ (I hate that term). But these people must too be FORCED to do this until 2025, just think by then they may have developed some skill or found an opportunity to turn service to work, to economic growth?
Look, you were born with certain advantages my friend. You were better educated, had a silver spoon in your mouth compared to myself and my peers. Take a look at the land issue. Your family owned a house. Your family owned a car. There are examples of white privilege that we could both agree on. All this from the hard work of black people. All this from apartheid and colonialism. Look, you could perpetuate this and it won’t be good for white people. The best way is to help make a mends,. The best way is 1 hour per day to teach skills to black people. Skills is what I talk about here. If you have no skills then community service such as removal of waste or plumbing or electrical work. Even cleaning of streets or sanitizing Porta loos. My brother is degraded and has to use this. Whites should help in whatever way, and cleaning is not below you. My aunt is a domestic. My sister also an office worker, cleaning toilets. You can do it too and you must if you want to repair good will. Mix it up. One hour teaching. One hour cleaning loos. One hour of various things to justify being in SA. The rainbow nation. Otherwise you should really think about going to another country. SA is for all equally. If you feel above blacks then fly above in a plane to Australia. Take it or leave it.
Thabang, apart from your point 3 being a little idealistic and perhaps unrealistic, why would only whites have to do community service? Why not all of us so we all serve each other? Was that not the point of this article, that we all have a part to play towards reconciliation? I don’t have to make amends for something I did not do, but I can cross the bridge to help reconcile the country.
Blacks have been serving as slaves for centuries. It’s whites turn. Why is community service below you? 1 hour per day is not much compared to the years my family and most blacks have been servants and slaves. If not, then the rise of black people will see to it you have no place. Why no community service? You will see it become compulsory in the future. For all whites.
I am a victim of white privilege….now what?
I can’t help that society offered me silver spoon?
I’ve done my time in the townships, in the underprivileged communities, in the soup kitchens etc…have I atoned for my white guilt? I have been across the border Zimbabwe (married a local), seen how land redistribution should not work. Not because white people suffered, but because the entire nation has suffered. I have lived in a first world country, where is not abour race, but class, and classism is something so foreign in the minds of South African’s because we only see colour.
Look internationally…local whites are begging for another passport, other Africans are begging for a South African passport. We are all born into our circumstances, no one can change that….but maybe some introspection will help us to find how we CAN change our circumstance to empower others to change theirs.