Racism – An Overdue Debate

by Editor · January 20, 2016

Why are we still talking about race in South Africa, more than a quarter of a century after FW de Klerk declared the end of apartheid?

A clue resides in the question: for the past 26 years South Africa has never had the kind of discussion on race that was necessary to arrive at a mutual understanding.

The discourse on race was blurred by the hopeful terminology of the Rainbow Nation, coined in the glow of our mostly peaceful and miraculous transition to democracy and reinforced by transient moments of national unity triggered mostly by sporting events.

(Photo: Wannabe Love by madpiano/deviantart)

The discussion about the past was supposed to be facilitated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s, but whites in particular tended to disassociate themselves from that process because most of them did not actively participate in the depraved acts of state-sanctioned terrorism against fellow South Africans.

And so white South Africa unilaterally wiped its conscience clear with the transfer of power from a government elected by a small percentage of the population to one elected by all the people.

Some remained bitter and kept flying their apartheid flags while proclaiming the supposed superiority of the white race; others welcomed the end of apartheid and notions of transformation. Most whites went on with their lives, expecting that bygones would be let to be bygones.

But the bygones never were bygone. White people tended to close the book of apartheid when the entrenched inequalities created by that system were still glaringly evident.

When white people complain about defective street-lamps or potholes in their areas, few direct their thoughts to people who live in areas where there is no street lighting and where there are no streets in which potholes might appear (and that is true also for municipalities that are not run by the ANC).

While most whites carried on as before, so did most blacks whose hopes of liberation from economic and social subjugation have not been met. The white sense of entitlement to the metaphorical smooth streets and street lighting have helped to feed a simmering discontent which the likes of Julius Malema are now articulating.

Penny Sparrow, who in her despicable Facebook post called all black people “monkeys”, threw a firebomb on that simmering anger.

This obscure real estate agent didn’t say anything that has not been said around countless braais, but here was a common mindset of racial superiority set out in typed words that demeaned and dehumanised every black person.

Penny Sparrow became a symbol of white racism precisely because she does not wear the paraphernalia of racist movements — indeed she was a member of the Democratic Alliance (she resigned before the party could discipline her).

The potency of her crass racism resided in her easily identifiable suburban, middle-class white normality. And so Penny Sparrow came to be seen by many as representative of all middle-class white people who lead normal suburban lives.

Matters were not helped by those who sought to deflect her racism by bringing up unrelated issues and speaking in the terminology of “them” and “us”.

The effect was to encapsulate the various forms of racism in white society, from the claims of white superiority to the daily casual racism which its perpetrators might not even be aware of.

There were some black responses that were no less despicable than the views of Penny Sparrow, including one Facebook post that advocated a genocide of whites. But there is an important difference: one racist outburst was prompted by litter on a beach, the other by racial abuse which did not begin only with a Facebook post in January 2016.

There can be no justifying, downplaying or deflecting racist outbursts. The only proper response to racism is to say: “Not in my name!”

In her contemptible bigotry, Penny Sparrow nevertheless did South Africa a service. Her awful Facebook rant has helped to open up the necessary debate on racism in South Africa, and to conscientise people about it.

It is important that we, as a nation, seize this opportunity to speak openly about race and racism, not in the form of accusation and reaction but in the spirit of eradicating this social cancer — and other bigotries — from our country.