If actions speak louder than words, the relinquishing of power by white South Africa in 1994 was worth far more than the mere mouthing of an apology by “whites” in 2008.
Knee-jerk responses should always be regarded with cynicism, and the call this week for whites to say sorry for apartheid — in the wake of the poignant and inspirational apology by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to native Australians for the wrongs done them — is about as knee-jerk a response as I’ve encountered.
Just days ago, I read with joy the text of the beautifully formulated and clearly sincere Australian apology to Australia’s “stolen generations”. A clear thought leapt into my head like a springbok chasing a kangaroo: at last, the Australians have taken a leaf out of our book. About time too. Now they’ll feel better for it, and move on.
Then, on Wednesday, the local papers ran a story saying that South African Human Rights Commission chair Jody Kollapen had told a conference that white South Africans should follow Australians’ example and apologise for apartheid.
I find myself responding to this in different ways. The chief problem I have is that Kollapen’s call is predicated on the assumption that all whites supported apartheid, and that all whites today must take collective responsibility for it, even if they were, say, three years old in 1994. The thinking seems to be purely race-based — that is, “whites” meaning all whites, as if there were no individuals among us.
Historically, it is fair to argue that all whites who, in 1994, were old enough to form mature opinions could be asked to apologise for the fact that there were many (but not all) among their number who oppressed the majority. All whites benefited from a system that favoured them and their prosperity, even if some of us always morally opposed that system (which we did), and therefore I will unhesitatingly put my name to a well-formed and fulsome apology to those who were oppressed.
But what of those white South Africans who were only small children in 1994? We have among us a new generation who have not lived under the yoke of apartheid. Why should they be lumbered with the ills of the past? Why should they be thought responsible for evils perpetrated by or condoned by their parents’ generation?
You have a classroom full of white and black kids who believe they are all equal, who play sport together, do exams together and go clubbing together — and the white ones must apologise to the rest?
My family think of our kids (now in their early 20s) as the Model C generation: they know no colour, and it is a joy to see them all just getting along together, not seeing one another’s race. So they must apologise … for what exactly?
As for the rest of us, let’s say we do sign up for an apology. Who will make it? The Australian apology was made by a man who represents all Australians, apologising on behalf of all Australians. Who, in South Africa, would be representative of all whites? The white South Africans most likely to make a poignant and heartfelt apology would be people of the ilk of a Frederick van Zyl Slabbert or a Helen Suzman. Spot the problem: they’re the last ones who should be apologising for apartheid.
We need to raise BJ Vorster from the dead, dust off the bones of HF Verwoerd, or, in their understandable absence, get old Adriaan Vlok, say, to stand up and be counted. (Actually, he’d probably do it.) It would be rather fun to hear Eugene Terre’Blanche make an apology, in that sonorous voice, and very poetic too. But spot the second problem: he ain’t gonna do it, and he his ilk are sure as hell not going to sign anything either.
But Vlok or Terre’Blanche do not represent me, anyway. Do they represent you? In Australia, the prime minister did it. But, well, spot problem number three. It wouldn’t really wash, would it, to have Thabo Mbeki apologising for apartheid?
So what, exactly, would be the point of an apology, if those who apologise are those who were against apartheid in the first place, and those who don’t apologise are the ones who really ought to? Wouldn’t it make it rather shallow, and mere window-dressing?
Having said all that, for my own part, I acknowledge that as a white South African I could have done more to oppose something to which I was morally and ethically opposed but about which I did very little.
I can remember having held racist attitudes as a small boy, when in the small town that was my boyhood home we had a “houseboy”, an Owambo man whose name was Simeon. He would work for us on six-month contracts, and I treated him in the most appalling manner, having got this idea from my elders that these men were somehow not in our class. One day he left, at the end of a contract, saying he would be back in three months. He never returned. To this day I wish I could face him and apologise for the devilish way I treated him as a stupid kid.
By the time I reached 14, by which time we had moved to Cape Town and my young mind had done a lot of thinking, I had become staunchly opposed to racism and had many an adolescent debate with grown-ups, arguing that no matter what it meant for the country’s future, black South Africans by right had to be given the vote and that we all had to make a future together. I remember being argued with, eyebrows being raised.
Subsequently, I used my white vote in support of Helen Suzman’s Progressive Party and its various offspring in the naive belief that one day enough of us would come to our senses, throw out the Nats, give everyone the vote and live happily ever after.
In my 20s, in the 1980s when the country was on fire, I continued working as an arts journalist, which gave me limited opportunity to speak out, in print, against apartheid’s evils, though the record will show that when and where it was possible, I spoke my mind. But (and hindsight is a wonderful and fairly useless thing) I wish now that I had had the nous and courage to have actively opposed apartheid in the way that many of my compatriots did. If age brings wisdom, it brings shame too.
I read something this week that resonates. Kader Asmal, in his valedictory speech to Parliament, spoke of the influence on his life of the German ecumenical martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, particularly this philosophy: “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
If not to act is to act, I am guilty of having condoned apartheid. For not having fought apartheid with the greatest possible intensity; for, perhaps, having fiddled while Rome burnt, I now apologise. If a public apology is formulated and circulated, so that all white South Africans can choose to sign it by way of adding their own personal apology, I will sign it. And privately, I will sign it for Simeon.
But I know that those who really should be signing it, those who were the true perpetrators of apartheid, those who still today regard black South Africans as lesser beings, as the problem, and even, most shockingly and vilely, as “kaffirs”, will be the least likely to sign up.
And there is another truth, mentioned in my opening words: we have, in a far greater way than an apology subscribed to by the few but scorned by the many, already made our apology.
If that beautiful noise we all made together in 1994 wasn’t an entire nation apologising for the dreadful wrongs of the past, hugging one another, and promising to try to move together into a new future, violets are green, Mondays are yellow, and Martians are blue.
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36 Responses to “I’m sorry, but if 1994 wasn’t an apology for apartheid, I’m a blue Martian”
Excellent article Tony.
There were a few white hero’s who openly opposed apartheid but for the most, as citizens we only had the vote (just like we have today) to make our voices heard. There was a fairly strong caucus of white people who continuously voted for the parties opposed to the National Party. It was those voters who made it possible for the voices of the likes of Helen Suzman to be heard in Parliment, and on the public platform. Voices of reason in the dark that eventually helped to swing the balance of power across from the dark side in 1994.
Instead of asking for an apology from us, it might be better, as a gesture of reconciliation, to thank us for our continuous support to end apartheid, and to acknowledge our contribution towards creating the multi-cultural society in which we now live today.
Remember communist China and the USSR and the 1960’s. Stalin and Mao purges still fresh in your memory. Hitler not far gone either. The rest of africa going down the dumb raw communist route that it is still battling to recover from.
So if we had not had apartheid then we would have had a one party communist state led by a dictator (probabably the great OR Tambo - spot the irony.)
Instead we had a time when the ANC and others could think about what kind of country they wanted and by the late eigthies the ANC had changed its communist stance that allowed 1994 to happen. Note: after the collapse of the USSR.
As many of us did not want to live in a communist state should we apologies for preventing it even if we did not vote Nat?
Many whites would agree with you, and many blacks wouldn’t. Unfortunately that’s enough to make you racist here. And too many people are too closed-minded to get past that.
I was 9 years old when apartheid ended. It sounds crazy to say it, but I don’t meet people my age, black or white, who care about apartheid. I feel about as responsible for it as I do for what happened at Cajamarca.
I am not sure what the basis is for a “white apology” is (or even how that concept could be defined). Does it imply that because I have a genetic link to people who supported such policies, I must apologise on their behalf? Well, a lot of coloured and black people share that same link.
I wish people could realise that race has no basis in science - and stop perpetrating the cycle.
It’s the essence of history: Bad things happen, and there is no real way to make meaningful amends.
The demise of Apartheid came not through the
armed struggle as many are ledd to believe,because
the Mk never posed a serious threat to the security
forces,but through sanctions and disinvestment and
apartheid being declared a crime against humanity,
followed by unprecedented and orchestrated
civil unrest,in which slogans such as’Liberation
before Education’ One settler one bullet’ ‘kill
the farmer kill the boer’ were commonplace.
To me it is a bit two faced to solemnly declare
apartheid a crime against humanity but not the
Governments stance on aids,it position in regard
to Zimbabwe and the fact that almost 250 000
people of all races have lost their lives.
Humanity after all are all the people living in
the world and includes all South Africans.
I often get the impression that only the “white
race’ are capable of commiting crimes against
humanity as if the brutal oppression by Mr Mugabe
of his own people is somehow not a crime against
humanity.
Once sanctions started having their effect and
America under world pressure deserted the ‘White
regime’ and it became increasingly difficult to
obtain oil supplies the writing was on the wall.
The fact that Mr de Klerk painted a rosy picture
assuring the white population that the ‘checks
and balances’ of the new constitution would
ensure a safe and prosperous South Africa, with
own schools and suburbs, advertised openly on
the lamposts (under the banner of the NP) of the suburb in which I live, opened a floodgate
of support for the NP on national level,far
exceeding that on local level.
It is a bit ironic that the man who at one stage
of his career got in hot water,predicting that
South Africa would soon have a black president,
Mr Botha, now wants to call all the negotiators
back to the table,to have another round of talks,
because South Africa is on the Zimbabwe road.
Yes apartheid was not a bed of roses but
1948 to 1994 is not a long period and going
back another 45 years to 1903,1929 and the 1930’s
were also not easy years for anybody black or white.
If the whites had not done anything,not built a
single house,not had done anything in Venda land and other places and had committed mass murder
as in Rwanda and like the American settlers had
driven the indigenous population to the brink
of extinction so that only small remnants were
left in some reserves,I would say yes an
apology is in order.
If we say sorry certainly our adversaries should
also apologise for the brutal murders they
committed on the voortrekkers, because they
were also part of humanity.
“If not to act is to act, I am guilty of having condoned apartheid. For not having fought apartheid with the greatest possible intensity; for, perhaps, having fiddled while Rome burnt, I now apologise.”
Besides fiddling on the fringes of the ECC and hanging out at Jamesons listening to “struggle poetry” I did bugger-all as well. But I put my vote in the right place in 94. Its just sad now to see what has become of what I voted for.
I think an apology is a GREAT idea. Can we assume that all legislated racial discrimination against Whites (Affirmative Action, BEE etc.) will then immediately be scrapped on receipt of this apology. If so, I’M IN !!
Hey, I’ll apologise every day if that’s what is required. Again.
But, I agree with you, Jody Kolapen is looking for an apology from the people who will never give one. Slightly naive, if you ask me. And, in a democracy, it is, after all, their choice whether they want to apologise or not. They will always be with us, and we need to accept that. All that should be required of them is to obey the law and to be tolerant.
I dont understand what is NICE about your article or apology. Of course, this insider’s account of benefiting from apartheid and how you treated Simeon in an eyeopener for some.
But if YOU were to apologize to Simeon, his son or family, what would that change? Nobody expects YOU or any white to apologize. Whites need NOT apologize for apartheid. Period.
Instead, first, you MUST acknowledge the sins of the past pepetrated in the name of white people. It is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and not denial that is needed. that would mark an important beginning.
At the moment there is a strong refusal to acknowledge that apartheid has damaged the national psyche of both black and white. We live its consequences and legacy every moment of every day.
Secondly, we urgently need to adopt a solution-oriented program of action. This could be done through the formation of a black and white coalition of people who are ANTI-RACISM. We have to be agents of the change we want to see.
At the moment, none of the two is possible because (i) whites do NOT acknowledge the problem. It is for this reason that they oppose black economic empowerment, affirmative action, land reform and a host of other programs in place to address the legacy of apartheid.
Secondly, we ALL need to rally together to form a movement opposed to racism by whites and blacks. This would teach our children new values and make a profound statement to the world that “we the people of south africa, both black and white, are opposed to racism.”
Consider this. From 1973 (when I turned 18) until 1993 I cast my sad little white vote against the apartheid government, and it always felt like a wasted, worthless vote, and I felt almost as disenfranchised as if I had not had the vote at all, such was the scale of pro-Nat voting by most whites. From 1994 until the present I have cast my vote for the ANC, but ironically I still get very little sense that my vote really counts for much. I feel unheard by my government.
I am one of those “people who will never give one [an apology],” referred to by Ali.
It is nothing less than absolute foolishness to apologize for something you had no control over. The best you can offer is sympathy; not contrition.
By the time I was born, 1961, Apartheid was well-entrenched. Personally I have never insulted, robbed, cheated, injured or murdered any black people in South Africa. I did support many charities trying to uplift black people, ran computer literacy classes in black townships, volunteered for food distribution programmes in KwaZulu and helped build houses and churches on the Makhathini flats.
I am sure that, in my own small way, I had the choice to perpetuate the system of Apartheid. I had, for instance, a couple of elections as voter under my belt before 1994. Every time and at every opportunity I chose to keep Apartheid entrenched.
The reason? I was convinced that if a black government took power in the eighties or nineties they would be as inept, greedy, foolish, bungling, corrupt, lazy and tacitly approving of wholesale black-on-white violence as… as… as the current ANC government.
Despite the fact that we did not have much in the way of money, I was reasonably free. I went to school, had my breaks, walked in the veld, played in town, Here is the thing, I never had any benefit from Apartheid. The last person in my family to work for a quasi Governemnt institution was my Grandad. He was a railway man.
Apologies are symbolic and yet they do little to change history. As Sandile Memela stipulated, it is acknowlegement and then constructive action that is needed. And the first action should be to speak out against crime, and not brand it ‘white’ or ‘black’ crime. Crime is crime, and should never be condoned!! This kind of categorization shows that South Africa is far from anything close to a solution.
1994 was asolutely not an apology for apartheid. And frankly it never will be. Because let’s face it, if Black people had not participated in the 1994 elections, the Nats still would have won.
An apology is neither wanted nor necessary. Let us remember that Jody Kollapen does not speak on behalf of all South Africans, never mind all Black people.
As for cool down’s comment that without White people there would be no development in SA, no amount of development could ever justify what happened in this country, the effects of which we still feel today.
What I would personally like is for us all to acknowlegde that we are all racially prejudiced. We may not all act on our prejudices, but we are all prejudiced. What we all need to do is acknowledge the past, all of us, perpertrators and victims. Let us remember that not all perpetrators were not, and not all victims were black. Let’s just find a way forward.
Tony Jackman notes:
“You have a classroom full of white and black kids who believe they are all equal, who play sport together, do exams together and go clubbing together — and the white ones must apologise to the rest?
My family think of our kids (now in their early 20s) as the Model C generation: they know no colour, and it is a joy to see them all just getting along together, not seeing one another’s race. So they must apologise … for what exactly?”
I am a 23 year old white South African. I was 10 when apartheid officially ended. I spent most of my childhood and youth in integrated schools. Everyone assumes me and my Model-C peers (of all races) are, as Jackman does above, ok with the race thing. We all get along, we all hang out, we don’t carry baggage.
Unfortunataly, this is simply NOT the case. We are not ok with each other. We have issues. We carry our, and our parents, pasts with us. The video made by UFS students, as despicable as it is, should not come as a surprise. Growing up, and still today, I come across people - my peers - that I could easily conceive doing that (as the most extreme expression of the racism and discrimination and othering that happens in small ways all the time).
I am still continually shocked by the fact that in SA the colour of my skin makes other white people feel that they can share their racist beliefs with me with no qualms (often under “I’m not racist, but…” phrase so common in our country).
The ‘they’re all getting along so well’ actually highlights a more pernicious, unspoken racism. That we’re ok with the black people that ‘look like me, speak like me, work like me, play like me, etc’ as long as they’re willing to play that game and not get too uppity. But, our integration goes no further.
I am not sure about the notion of apology. I do think acknowledgement is important though. I need to acknowledge every time I did not speak up when the colour of my skin meant I was included in a conversation that was racist. Everytime I did not say something when a black person around me was threatened. Everytime I did not want to cause a fuss. That needs to be acknowledged. Because, yes, my not doing something was doing something. It was legitimising the automatic inclusion of another white person in that conversation.
I guess my final point that i hope everyone keeps in mind is simple: young South Africans are not ok with the race thing. We need the forums to have the conversations about it. We need to let all the ugliness we carry from being South Africans, from carrying all the baggage that brings, to be put on the table. We need to start grappling, honestly and intimately, with our identities. That’s the ‘apology’ that’d needed.
I am very taken with your comments, Janet. They have a ring of truth. I have always hoped that time will heal the rift, but I do wonder now how much time it will take. And I too encounter, daily, the soul-destroying prevalence of white people of all ages refusing to drop the age-old racist attitudes. But race is a national thing in this country. It is not just a white thing.
Well Tony i understand what you are saying and it makes perfect sense from your own point of view.Apartheid will still haunt us for generations to come.Sometimes i thought about it and even wondered if it was not hereditary.I disagree with your arguement that black and white South African children growing together think of themselves as equals.
Its not.There is still a feeling of superiority among some white peoples and its also entreched in the way they grow their children up which is also further fuelled by our perceptions as society.
Having said that i thnink Mbeki was right when he argued that the easiest way to deal with such legacy is through social intergation and unfortunately it seems as if its happening too early.My prayer is that our desire to build a true non-racial South Africa is not overtaken by events.
We have seen in these UFS racist act how such things fuell hatred.
Lastly i was watching Sarafina with my younger cousins and seeing how blacks were treated then was enough to send tears running in their cheeks,so it will take a long time for us as a country to heal.
Tony notes: “I have always hoped that time will heal the rift, but I do wonder now how much time it will take. And I too encounter, daily, the soul-destroying prevalence of white people of all ages refusing to drop the age-old racist attitudes. But race is a national thing in this country. It is not just a white thing.”
It isn’t even remotely just a white thing, because the future of our country doesn’t just depend on white people getting themselves into gear. It’s about a real interaction - a genuine human connection between black and white and Indian and Coloured and Asian and Zimbabwean etc etc etc. It is about actively creating spaces in our society where it is ok to reveal all our stuff - the scary stuff, the beautifuk stuff, the anger, the pain, the joy. Everything about our commonalities and differences as South Africans.
Too often we think that the spaces where there isn’t overt conflict are ok, so we don’t ask the difficult questions, we don’t expose our own pain, we don’t tell our stories.
Healing the rifts, healing ourselves, is not a passive process that time will magically deal with. Unless your generation, and mine, enter dialogues about ourselves, unless we tell our stories, unless we figure out our common humanity; then my children’s generation will be as caught up in this horrible morass of hatred that my generation is. Becoming ok with each other is a painful, active and liberating process that we all urgently need to embark on.
(i) whites do NOT acknowledge the problem. It is for this reason that they oppose black economic empowerment, affirmative action, land reform and a host of other programs in place to address the legacy of apartheid.
Secondly, we ALL need to rally together to form a movement opposed to racism by whites and blacks. This would teach our children new values and make a profound statement to the world that “we the people of south africa, both black and white, are opposed to racism.”
You are contradicting yourself there old chap.
First you approve of racism, then you say we must fight to end it.???????
AA, BEE, Land reform are all forms of racism.
You see the definition of racism is NOT white on black hate, as you all seam to think.
It IS the discrimination of a person based on his race.
You see racism is NOT something only whites are guilty of, ANTONE who discriminates against another person based on his race is a racist.
AA, BEE and land reform are all based on discrimination as they ALL dis-allow participation by people based on their race.
Untill you face the truth of your views there is no hope for SA, for how can you expect whites to be no-racial when you blacks continue to subject us to racist discrimination?
@Sandile… seeing as it’s ACKNOWLEDGEMENT you yearn for, how about black folk acknowledging that the white colonialists actually fast-tracked the black natives from the iron age of wheellessness and backwardness and all the way to to the atomic age in hardly more than one man’s lifespan?
“And I too encounter, daily, the soul-destroying prevalence of white people of all ages refusing to drop the age-old racist attitudes. But race is a national thing in this country. It is not just a white thing.”
And still there is that big but! The i am not racist but! Jeez.
Why didn’t you mentioned these stuff in your first comment? I am certain it’s this kind of thinking that Janet refers to when she says “(often under “I’m not racist, but…” phrase so common in our country).”
Cause that’s exactly how a bunch of you are. Don’t apologize, just aknowledge and aknowledge without the but! because once there is a but, it’s like saying I am not racist but, this black people and their corrupt government etc. Not all blacks support the current government, and apartheid hurt all black people, not just the fat cats in government. So just acknowledge that it did hurt them and it should be rectified.
So much feel-good groupspeak on here and I am sure that Tony feels suitably stroked, but if one asks how “Apartheid” actually caused all these problems, people disappear faster than Chippy Shaik’s doctorate, screaming racist, supremacist, etc. and frothing at the mouth whilst exiting.
Would one or more of you knowledgeable folk care to give it a try and explain it to a dumb person like me, who obviously doesn’t get it?
What you do not seem to understand is that any such apology is immediately used to discriminate against whites and to find more justification to institutionalize theft of white property, such as the 35 racist, discriminary acts, based on our “guilt”, that we are already subjected to. Bear in mind that none of the “crimes” upon which this legislation is based, has ever been proven in a court of law despite the insistence of the politically correct that a person is innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was to be the venue where we would all confess guilt, apologize and forgive the “sins of the past”. In practice it was turned into a venue for the prosecution of whites but was shut down as soon as it became the turn of the other race to confess.
What is wanted now by the powers that are, is justification to grab the property and the land of whites. Communism will probably be the vehicle of choice, sooner than you think. A few good public confession would do it hence the calls of some politicians “just to acknowledge, confess and apologize and everything will be all right.”
Yeah, right. Remember what we will be facing will not be Marxist communism but the African version, Zimbabwe probably being a good example. Think about it. Remember the old saying “people get the government that they deserve.”
Tony, spot on! White people are quite frankly sick and tired of being generally branded racist. For 14 years we have all being branded racist, with no substantiated evidence. Well, let me tell ask a question, are blacks going to apologize in the future for all black-against-white crime? I think not.
I am not apologising for anything. I was 16 in 1994, I was not responsible for apartheid. My parents were not responsible for apartheid. They were both United Party supporters and never voted for the Nats. My brother and I were raised to treat EVERYONE with respect and courtesy. You treat people with respect - no matter who they are, what colour their skin is.
It’s great that the Australians finally feel some guilt and have owned up to what they’ve done to their own indigenous population. Perhaps we should all apologise to the Bushmen who were here long before Black, White, Coloured, Indian or Asian. They are our real indigenous people. And they’re the ones that got screwed the most, losing out not only to White colonisation but also to Black colonisation. I’m waiting for the first Bushman president.
Wow.
Janet Jobson. May you live a long life filled with happiness.
Some insanely racist utterances from some of the comments above:
1. black folk acknowledging that the white colonialists actually fast-tracked the black natives from the iron age of wheellessness and backwardness and all the way to the atomic age in hardly more than one man’s lifespan?
2. EVERYBODY knows by now that saying sorry is just the curtain-raiser to “pay us lots of money to prove how sorry you are”.
Jon, it matters not how much modernity colonialists brought to these shores, the fact of the matter is that this continent has a generation of limbless people amongst its populance, do you assert that those people should acknowledge Leopold because through all that they were modernised? (I’m almost certain that you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry, ignorance is a common trait amongst racist bigots)
As for the comment that asking for an apology is a pre-cursor to wanting money? Do you even have money to give my kind Sir? Not all black people who are of the opinion that some whites should apologise want money from white people, actually through the hard work and resilience of those that came before us, some of us grew up better than a significant portion of white people, with more money than a lot of white people and as such, could care less about your money. Your hubris is almost indicative of those in-bred idiots who got us where we are. Are you in-bred Jon?
And the article: I think Sandile is right to an extent. An acknowledgement of the perks that came and continue to flow to white people as a result of apartheid would probably go a long way in expressing sincerety to those affected. Guys I’m certain that we all are aware that you didn’t need to work for the then government to benefit from its policies. When my grandfather built his businesses in the Eastern Cape, he had to partner with some white man; as some Law prohibited him from owning the type of businesses he wanted, because he was black obviously. Some jobs were the preserve of white people and as a consequence, the affluence that came with them was preserved for white people. Etc etc etc. Those benefits are still there today good people.
Solution: Intelligent engagement amongst us countrymen. Let’s honestly engage with our budding democracy because as soon as we stop talking, the in bred bigots win.
I agree with much of the article, but just want to point out my experiences of the ‘model c generation’. I am a 26 year old that went to racially integrated schools from the start. I am one of the unlucky generation that were pioneers that entered private schools under the quota system and model C schools once they were opened up. As a minority non-white in the class I was
1. bullied by some fellow pupils,
2. ignored by teachers who after teaching me for years never bothered to pronounce my name decently or even knew the differencec between me and other girls of my race,
3. was subject to hearing racist comments and insults
4. was never asked to dance by a white boy
5. was always always treated as the other
In addition, black girls were often excluded from birthday parties, and were hardly ever voted into any positions of responsibitiy.
Until I left against my parents wishes to go to a black school, where I was finally treated like a human being. Note, in 1997 the principal of my school told me I would be better off among ‘my own people.’Had I stayed on in the ‘integrated school’ whose brochures featured happy mixed race groups, I would never have achieved the level of confidence or success I did by leaving. So don’t assume that what you see on the surface is the true experience that non-white students of our generation have been through. Many of us have been directly and indirectly affected by racism and the effects of apartheid.
@ Eagle: You said - “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was to be the venue where we would all confess guilt, apologize and forgive the “sins of the past”. In practice it was turned into a venue for the prosecution of whites but was shut down as soon as it became the turn of the other race to confess.”
I think you need to get the facts right if you’re going to make inflammtory statements. For all its flaws, one thing that was remarkeable about the TRC was the participation by members of the liberation struggle. I don’t have exact figures on me, but in terms of amnesty applications from perpetrators - around 2000 came from the liberation struggle side (ANC, PAC etc) while only around 200 security police and apartheid governers came forward. Those that didn’t have yet to be prosecuted. That hardly seems like a campaign against white people (who, after all, did run a regime that was declared a crime against humanity). The victims that testified waited 6 years for meagre reparations ans still suffer the consequences of their persecution. So where does the bias actually lie?
@SJ: you note - “Tony, spot on! White people are quite frankly sick and tired of being generally branded racist. For 14 years we have all being branded racist, with no substantiated evidence. Well, let me tell ask a question, are blacks going to apologize in the future for all black-against-white crime? I think not.”
Unfortunately you need a wake-up call. Yes, being a white South African means you are likely to have been branded a racist at some point in your life. But here’s what you’re missing - there is evidence of it; we are all racist because our entire system is still racist. As for crime, firstly in terms of violent crime (especially rape) the majority of it happens within rather than between racial groups. But, yes, we have a crime problem - how about we start dealing with the things that are creating that crime rather than merely ‘blaming the blacks’. A system that disposseses, dehumanises and represses people will result in violence.
@ Bryn: You say - “I am not apologising for anything. I was 16 in 1994, I was not responsible for apartheid. My parents were not responsible for apartheid. They were both United Party supporters and never voted for the Nats. My brother and I were raised to treat EVERYONE with respect and courtesy. You treat people with respect - no matter who they are, what colour their skin is.”
Again, I think you’re missing the point. As white South African it doesn’t matter what your/your parents political persuasions are (I could equally trot out the nice lefty, liberal politics of my parents - Black Sash yadda yadda). Just because we are able to intellectually and rationally understand and take on board principles of equality, respect and multi-racialism, does not mean that we have not participated (even passively) in racist systems. Acknowledging our involvement - the benefits we receive/d, the myriad of small things we do/say/think that we have stopped thinking are racist. This is simply another version of the “I can’t be racist, I have black friends…” line. I cannot believe that any white or black (or coloured or indian) South African does not carry with them experiences of racism (that they have observed, participated in or being subject of). Its only by engaging with those that we can create the kind of society we want - not by fobbing it off as being something not relevant because of our political persuasions, our age, or our lefty-liberal credentials.
THe comments here are exactly indicative of why we need a mechanism to acknowledge our personal involvement in racist systems. So much of what has been said above falls into the ‘I’m not racist but…’ category: I’m not racist, but the blacks must apologise for crime; I’m not racist, but I won’t acknowledge my part in the system; I’m not racist but the blacks unfairly discriminate against me as a white person. It is pervasive. And it’s not ok. And the only way we deal with it is to engage - to tackle how and why we think/feel/believe/do what we do.
[…] in response to the call this week for whites to say sorry for apartheid I’m sorry, but if 1994 wasn’t an apology for apartheid, I’m a blue Martian […]
Asking for a white apology for Apartheid is just one more way of humiliating white South Africans.
It is not enough for the ANC to take away people’s ability to earn a living, they want ALL whites to say sorry for something alot of them had no part in.
This is quite frankly disgusting considering the brutal acts commited by the ANC during the struggle.
When leading members of the government say sorry for the bombings and the burning alive of people accused of cooperation with the Apartheid regime then and only then could they ask the white community of a certain age to do the same.
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Tony Jackman is a journalist, budding playwright and sometime chef. He's written two plays, An Influence of Ghosts and Blue Train Coming, and back in the day wrote loads of songs. He paints a bit in watercolours when he remembers to, and apart from that he massages words and pushes grammar for a nice little magazine called myweek.
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