February has been declared Race Free Month and every day in February we at MyPE will be combating the subtle racist nuances that hamper our thinking, cloud our judgement, restrict our development and increase the tension in South Africa.
White South Africans should continue to try and understand and acknowledge the pain and humiliation that apartheid caused black, coloured and Indian people, FW de Klerk said on Tuesday 2 February, going on to say that “many South Africans were living in ‘white bubbles’, oblivious to the problems around them.”
Aaaah I though – what a great start to what must surely be a great speech about how we could get down to the business of making this country great, BUT, I was wrong as FW went on to say:
“Blacks see this [white bubble] as unconscious racial superiority. The attitude of many blacks towards white South Africans is becoming harsher and more uncompromising. Many believe whites stole the land… and their relative prosperity is based not on hard work and enterprise.”
Judegemental FW, judgemental.
Paul Kruger came in for praise, “who ironically led one of the greatest anti-imperialist struggles in history”, said De Klerk.
Guys – lets get one thing straight here – an apology for hurt and a pledge to not perpetrate hatred would have gone down much better. A concrete plan to make us all proud of our country (and politicians) will go a long way towards making South Africa even more brilliant.
One has to wonder why FW De Klerk seem moved to highlight our differences once again when he said; “South Africans are once again perceiving peoples from other communities, not as individual human beings, but in racial stereotypes.” It is not like he is running for election again, or is he?
What we need is a whole bunch of people in power to come out and EMBRACE – and I really mean EMBRACE – us all with a plan to make us proud again. We don’t want a war to feel proud we want to be able to show the rest of the world just how freaking awesome we are as a nation.
Sorry FW – I don’t think you are the guy to do that, tainted as you (and a lot of us around here) are with the stench of apartheid. Yup despite you being the guy with the biggest hanging appendages that started us on the road to democracy and the eradication of apartheid.
Whom amongst all of our politicians do you say is THE PERSON that will lead us on the road to union, which of them stands out as a great statesman?
“I am African and I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world. None of these is mutually exclusive,” is also what FW said – Boet I have been saying that for dozens of years, I don’t associate myself with any other geographic region than this one – the land of my birth, the source of my joy, the mother of my fellow citizens.
Sign the Pledge to go Race Free.
Related: February 2016 Race Free Month Articles
Alan Straton
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