Racism: Clouds over the Rainbow
In South Africa, racism is much like a rotten tooth: it needs treatment but many people are afraid of the dentist and leave the tooth to rot further.
So it is important that the Catholic bishops of South Africa devoted two days in their mid-year plenary session to the subject of racism.
By all accounts, it was not an easy discussion. Close to 30 men from different backgrounds and experiences came together, all carrying the baggage of the past and facing the realities of the present from various perspectives.
Old Hurts Revisited at the Plenary
Even as all were united in their condemnation of racism as an affront to God — in whose image we all are made — and in a consensus that racism is a corrosive evil, there could by force be no common understanding of race and racism, because everybody’s experience of it and response to it is different.
This is what South Africa needs: a courageous dialogue in which issues of race can be addressed with brutal honesty, with the listeners hearing instead of becoming defensive.Apparently the bishops’ discussion was very honest and emotional. In the course of a candid discourse, old hurts tend to be revisited and festering resentments may be confronted. For the bishops, all this contributed to a greater common understanding.
This is what South Africa needs: a courageous dialogue in which issues of race can be addressed with brutal honesty, with the listeners hearing instead of becoming defensive.
Did Whites Apologise for Apartheid?
The euphoria of the Rainbow Nation and Mandela in a Springbok jersey seemingly persuaded many that no further remedy was necessary.There is a perception among many black South Africans — and here we refer to all groups that were discriminated against under apartheid — that their white compatriots have collectively failed to apologise for apartheid. There is merit to that perception.
For most whites, it seems to have sufficed to acquiesce in the transfer of power in 1994, and then let the past stay in the past. The euphoria of the Rainbow Nation and Mandela in a Springbok jersey seemingly persuaded many that no further remedy was necessary.
Clearly, they were wrong. It was not enough to simply agree to what always was a legitimate demand—a democratic dispensation and correction of the socially-engineered imbalances— without a sense of atonement, nor even an acknowledgment that whites are in positions of intergenerational privilege and the black masses impoverished because of apartheid and the colonial regimes that preceded it.
Forgiveness was expected without it having been requested, but bygones couldn’t simply be bygones. South Africa never extracted the rotten teeth of its past.
And racism remains with us today: in open attitudes of white supremacism and “them” vs “us” attitudes, and in little ways, almost imperceptible and often unconsciously perpetrated, such as when the black restaurant patron has to wait for service just a little longer than their white counterparts.
3 Processes in Responding to Racism
The bishops correctly identify three processes by which white South Africans need to respond to the legacy of the past, one from which these compatriots still benefit even if they were born after apartheid.
Acknowledgement of the Reality of Racism
The first step is acknowledgment: listening to the victims of racism and not denying its existence. Along with that, there must be a consciousness that everybody is at times disposed towards some form of latent prejudice. When we are accused of racism or other forms of bigotry, as individuals or collectively, our first response must be introspection and, if necessary, remedy — not defensive denial.
And when racism occurs, it and the apologism that always accompanies it must be unambiguously condemned, whether it occurs in public or around the braai, whether physical or verbal.
Apology of Respect
The second step is apology. A blanket apology by a representative of all whites is obviously impossible — there is no such person or body. It is also not necessary for white South Africans to wear the proverbial sackcloth by way of stating their regret at apartheid.
The apology must take the form of giving respect to the sadness and anger of those who suffered under apartheid and the intergenerational effects of it.
The bishops suggest giving those who suffer racism — and that is every black South African — attention by listening to their experiences. That is a good start.
Atonement for Racism in the Past
The third step, atonement, is the most complicated one. It concerns land restitution and other forms of correction and compensation. The bishops are correct that these processes must be resolved to the satisfaction of the victims — but it is not clear who are the legitimate representatives of the victims.
It is fair to say that the African National Congress has bungled the question of land restitution since it assumed power 23 years ago. Now, instead of addressing the issue seriously, it is deployed as a tool of populism and demagoguery, even as a diversion from the kleptocracy of the Zuma government, with dangerously racist undertones by those who apply it.
The rhetoric and actions of the Black Land First movement, the Gupta-driven diversion tank, are designed to ramp up anti-white sentiments. That form of racist conduct is reprehensible.
Anti-White Sentiment Fuels Further Prejudice
The accumulation of racist actions by many — often even unconsciously — and a widespread reluctance to contend with the past have created the conditions which bigots now manipulate for political advantage.Indeed, while it is right to be concerned about white racism, the emergence of militant anti-white reaction and language that intends to feed that prejudice must alarm all South Africans.
At the same time, whites are not innocent victims in this. The accumulation of racist actions by many — often even unconsciously — and a widespread reluctance to contend with the past have created the conditions which bigots now manipulate for political advantage.
The reciprocal hopefulness of 1994 has vanished, and the nation is now at a tipping point. There are dark clouds where once we saw a rainbow.
Racism is a Sin
White South Africans must change, and black South Africans must not let their legitimate grievances turn into blanket prejudice.
Those who preach the evil message of racial supremacy and racial conflict are acting in defiance of God.Racism is a sin, as the bishops point out. Those who preach the evil message of racial supremacy and racial conflict are acting in defiance of God.
With this in mind, and in service to God and our nation, South Africans must hear one another.
Bishop João Rodriguez in his homily to the bishops this month proposes a “fraternal confrontation” by which South Africans of all backgrounds gather and tell their story of racism, in a forum of total honesty and respect.
And the churches are a good place to start that process.
- The Look of Christ - May 24, 2022
- Putting Down a Sleeping Toddler at Communion? - March 30, 2022
- To See Our Good News - March 23, 2022