Lest we forget who we are

HISTORY gives one identity.

It is hypocritical for Professor Jonathan Jansen (“Forcing history down our throats will not wash”, DD, June 7) and Rob Prestwich (“Not more division, Angie”, DD June 8) to pretend that studying history will hinder “nation building”.

They are encouraging a colonial policy of collective amnesia which allows our colonisers to forget their atrocities.

No. One should remind them of the brutal past from which they benefited and today find themselves in a position of extreme opulence.

Africans in abject poverty should not believe their forefathers were useless.

They should be taught about the heroic struggles of [King] Hintsa, [Xhosa leaders] Makana, Mlanjeni and Maqoma, and about the contributions of Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko and Chris Hani. Eventually without history even Nelson Mandela will be forgotten.

The heroic struggles of resistance by Africans defending their sovereignty, their land and their history must be told to focus us on resolving the chaos of the present.

National history taught in our mother tongues will help us remember our past.

The slaves of America were similarly made to forget their roots when their very names were changed.

There is no remembrance for the human bones that carpet the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. We know overloaded ships eased their load by throwing overboard human beings otherwise sold like cattle.

African roots are as important as those of European and Asiatic nations.

To be ‘woke’ and modern we must never forget our roots. — Mthobeli C Balfour, via e-mail