Race
At the risk of sounding obvious, race relations in South Africa are extremely complex. On several occasions I have spoken to individuals who have sworn to me that they are not racist, but later make comments that would be considered completely inappropriate in the states. I am not talking about non-PC type comments, but outright and utter plantation-style racism.
Just the other day somebody promised me that we would see monkeys on the banks of the Vaal river. Well, I love seeing monkeys so I was really excited since we have only seen wild monkeys about three times so far on this trip and I have yet to see any baboons. On the way to the launching spot on the river, this woman pointed to two blacks crossing the road and yelled, "Look, there you can see some monkeys!" I was so shell-shocked I didn't say anything. I simply sat there with my mouth hanging open.
While I often just sit and listen to such comments, sometimes I have spoken out. A woman at a dinner party asked me, "Do you have any blacks in America?" Her husband laughed at her and said something to the tune of, "Yes, of course, NIGGERS!" I turned to him immediately, looked him in the eye, and said, "We don't say that word. But yes, we do have black people in our country." Nobody at the dinner table seemed to know what to do with this comment so the woman replied, "But not like we have here." I just stared at her, knowing the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere good. After an uncomfortable silence she elaborated, "They are not stupid like they are here." Again, I simply stared and she continued, "In America, the blacks are cultured. Here they have no culture." At this point I couldn't believe what I was hearing; after four weeks in Africa learning about some of the most complex and fascinating cultures in the world, I had to sit and listen to somebody tell me this utter dribble. I tried (and most likely failed) to explain to her that just because somebody has a different culture, it doesn't make them uncultured. Some of her rationalization for these comments included statements, like there are no roads in the townships because people are too lazy to build them, all blacks do is sit and drink by in the shabeens or on the sides of roads, there are no books or desks in the black schools, and so forth.
Today we listened to white woman talk out of both sides of her mouth. On one hand she said she was glad that things had changed, that apartheid was over, because she enjoyed being "colleagues" with blacks. As a paragon of racial harmony, she even has had a beer with them on occasion. Wow. On the other hand, she told us that things were better during apartheid. Why? Because blacks were less visible. They lived in small groups on farms. And the generous self-sacrificing farmers opened their hearts to blacks and gave them mealies (corn), milk, and bread. Even more, they built schools for the children of their workers and ensured that all children had books. A very typical comment she made was that the blacks never wanted for anything and had no use for wealth. She explained that with the new government, things have degenerated because blacks flocked to townships and overcrowded schools and so many children go without books, desks, and supplies. She assured us that the farmers had always loved the blacks and always treated them well. I told her that in my opinion any system that relied on one class of people having to parcel out food to another class of people would never be a just system. She countered by emphasizing that things were equal in their own way during apartheid because although blacks couldn't go into the white cities after 9 p.m., whites also couldn't go into the black townships after 9 p.m. I didn't even try to argue this one; an obvious comment at the tip of my tongue was that there would be few reasons, if any, that a white would want to go into an impovershed area with no stores, services, restaurants, entertainment, or (helpful) police. I will spare you the details of the rest of the conversation.
All I can hope at this kind of bullshit is primarily generational and will change with time and the new government in South Africa.
Just the other day somebody promised me that we would see monkeys on the banks of the Vaal river. Well, I love seeing monkeys so I was really excited since we have only seen wild monkeys about three times so far on this trip and I have yet to see any baboons. On the way to the launching spot on the river, this woman pointed to two blacks crossing the road and yelled, "Look, there you can see some monkeys!" I was so shell-shocked I didn't say anything. I simply sat there with my mouth hanging open.
While I often just sit and listen to such comments, sometimes I have spoken out. A woman at a dinner party asked me, "Do you have any blacks in America?" Her husband laughed at her and said something to the tune of, "Yes, of course, NIGGERS!" I turned to him immediately, looked him in the eye, and said, "We don't say that word. But yes, we do have black people in our country." Nobody at the dinner table seemed to know what to do with this comment so the woman replied, "But not like we have here." I just stared at her, knowing the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere good. After an uncomfortable silence she elaborated, "They are not stupid like they are here." Again, I simply stared and she continued, "In America, the blacks are cultured. Here they have no culture." At this point I couldn't believe what I was hearing; after four weeks in Africa learning about some of the most complex and fascinating cultures in the world, I had to sit and listen to somebody tell me this utter dribble. I tried (and most likely failed) to explain to her that just because somebody has a different culture, it doesn't make them uncultured. Some of her rationalization for these comments included statements, like there are no roads in the townships because people are too lazy to build them, all blacks do is sit and drink by in the shabeens or on the sides of roads, there are no books or desks in the black schools, and so forth.
Today we listened to white woman talk out of both sides of her mouth. On one hand she said she was glad that things had changed, that apartheid was over, because she enjoyed being "colleagues" with blacks. As a paragon of racial harmony, she even has had a beer with them on occasion. Wow. On the other hand, she told us that things were better during apartheid. Why? Because blacks were less visible. They lived in small groups on farms. And the generous self-sacrificing farmers opened their hearts to blacks and gave them mealies (corn), milk, and bread. Even more, they built schools for the children of their workers and ensured that all children had books. A very typical comment she made was that the blacks never wanted for anything and had no use for wealth. She explained that with the new government, things have degenerated because blacks flocked to townships and overcrowded schools and so many children go without books, desks, and supplies. She assured us that the farmers had always loved the blacks and always treated them well. I told her that in my opinion any system that relied on one class of people having to parcel out food to another class of people would never be a just system. She countered by emphasizing that things were equal in their own way during apartheid because although blacks couldn't go into the white cities after 9 p.m., whites also couldn't go into the black townships after 9 p.m. I didn't even try to argue this one; an obvious comment at the tip of my tongue was that there would be few reasons, if any, that a white would want to go into an impovershed area with no stores, services, restaurants, entertainment, or (helpful) police. I will spare you the details of the rest of the conversation.
All I can hope at this kind of bullshit is primarily generational and will change with time and the new government in South Africa.
posted by Julep | 1:01 PM
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