Avoid causing resentment
THE editorial “Racism stops with us!” by editor Krisendra Bisetty June 27 to July 1), further supported by “Beware, racism exists in many subtle ways too” where activist Sunny Singh was interviewed, made for interesting but concerning and introspective reading.
The following aspects of life in current-day South Africa cannot and must not be denied: Race is a major factor in everyday life. We’ve come from a horrendous apartheid past, and many in the black population are still hurting and are still carrying a degree of resentment because of past repression/injustices.
Corruption under our current democratic dispensation has exacerbated unemployment and poverty levels (the gap between rich and poor has widened) and labour laws are flouted and are often not enforced – rich grounds for exploitation of the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable in our society.
Given this scenario, shouldn’t we as the Indian community be sensitive to our interaction with our fellow black employees when we take on the role of employer? Whether as butcher, baker or candlestick maker? Much has been said about our interaction with domestic workers, but examine the following hypothetical situation.
An Indian family (father, mother and four employed adult children) purchase their daily bread from a local shop that sells a loaf of bread at R7.50 while all of the surrounding shops sells a loaf of bread at R15. This (first) shop has its own bakery employing only black staff, who were previously unemployed and are living at the nearby informal settlement.
Employees work long hours, wages are not in keeping with the industry rates, and there are no toilet facilities. Employees are often seen using the surrounding bush to relieve themselves to answer the call of nature.
A morally-upright friend of the father of this Indian household remonstrates: “But why do you buy your bread from this shop?”
He further asserts: “I knew something was amiss. The price is suspicious. It is too good to be true. I investigated.” His answer? “My four working children do not contribute to t
ive derogatory anti-Indian outbursts by Juju. That he and his party national chairperson, Dali Mpofu, have deliberately resorted to cheap political talk is quite evident. They have painted all Indians with the same brush. Stereotyping an entire/majority race group is unacceptable and borders on hate speech.
But we must be wary. Are some of us not unwittingly feeding into such divisive anti-Indian talk by our covert/ overt acts of racism? Will you patronise that particular bakery (transgressor) or partake of that bread as mentioned in the hypothetical scenario?
If we cannot afford to pay for a service (as stipulated by the law governing that particular sector) then do not engage such a service. Stay without. Refrain from the mindset: But I am providing some form of employment. This person is unemployed. It becomes an invitation to racial resentment.
Remember “Racism stops with us”.