Stand together to defeat racism
IN THIS day and age one would have thought that when it comes to racism, very few people would be in dispute about right and wrong. With the exception of extremists, no one would wish to endorse racism. Just about all of us know nasty racist behaviour when we see it.
It is therefore disingenuous when some among us pretend they could not see any racism in Penny Sparrow referring to black people as monkeys and animals. Equally, it smacks of hypocrisy when some defend Velaphi Khumalo over his racist post on Facebook against white people in which he said: “White people in South Africa deserve to be hacked and killed like Jews.”
To the extent that racism can be placed within the realm of right and wrong and involves how one person treats another, one can argue that it is a moral issue. Of course, there are those who would argue that racism is fundamentally political and is a means for a dominant group to maintain its economic and social power. Both perspectives are correct and should not be regarded as mutually exclusive.
The moral dimension of racism places responsibility on the individual. Individuals must be held accountable for their racism and helped to see the error of their ways. While racism will have structural qualities which can be defined and analysed politically, it can’t just be all a product of intangible and political forces. Human agency and attitudes play a role in shaping social reality and therefore promoting or discouraging racism. This, to me, is the area where we can all play a part both as individual citizens and as organisations.
Yes, legislators and the government must play their part by passing laws that will deal with and criminalise racism. In advanced societies such as Germany and Australia, there are laws that deal with racism. In Australia, for example, there is the Racial Discrimination Act which makes it against the law to treat another person unfairly because of their race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status.
Reports that our own lawmakers are moving in this direction are encouraging and one hopes the draft laws, once ready, will be accepted by all South Africans.
However, we would give the Rainbow Nation Project, which we dare not abandon at this stage, a boost if we all took a decision to respond to racism individually and collectively. How would we do that? By creating campaigns or joining existing ones that seek to create awareness of racism and its effects and empower people to take action against racial prejudice and discrimination when it occurs.
And that, I submit, would need to be preceded by an attitude that goes beyond tolerating to respecting and embracing each other in spite of our diversity. If the EU, whose motto is United in Diversity, can inspire unity and mutual respect across different nationalities in Europe, surely we can do the same within one country?
I hear the argument that there are black people who practise racism, but for us to move forward, we need to be honest in this conversation. It is a fact that the people who, by and large, were treated with indignity in this country are black people.
The lie was propagated over many years that black people were inherently inferior – really just animals – and therefore needed to be discriminated against and segregated from white people. The racism against black people was institutionalised and its residual effects are still being felt. The majority is still suffering from it and it will take a long time to bring equality and normalise our society.
To pretend otherwise is historical revisionism of the worst kind and undermines reconciliation and our march to a non-racial society.
And while individual citizens and secu- lar organisations pick up the cudgels, it is important that the same struggle is taken to as many fronts as possible – from schools to religious organisations.
The latter more importantly because religion has in the past failed black people by deviously twisting its passages and teachings to justify apartheid and racism.
Strong campaigns need to be taken against racism by all South Africans, from civil society to labour movements, sports, universities and the government.
We have come a long way as a country and if we unite and stand together and deal with racism wherever and whenever it raises its ugly head, I believe we can defeat it.