“In order for us to know where we are going we need to understand where we come from”
My aim in this article is for us, as black people, to reflect on what we as a people have done in the past that made us susceptible to this exploitation and also seek to identify where we are and where we are going as a nation and what we need to change as a nation in order to prosper and ensure that this calamity is something that never happens again.
There is a lesson in pain and there is a lesson in suffering and therefore there must be a lesson in oppression and slavery. If we do not learn these lessons we risk pain and suffering once again. Apartheid was both a tragedy and a social injustice and as we proceed to build a nation sodomised by this injustice one is confronted with the inherent conflict simmering amongst the beneficiaries of this tragic event i.e. descendants of sodomisers(non-blacks) and the victims of the sodomy(blacks). The reality is that we have inherited this shameful past regardless of whether we acknowledge it or not. I could go into detail about systematic oppression of the black man by the non-black but you probably have heard that argument time and time again. This is not one of those, this is a reflection of a black man wishing to take a different view on the subject.
There is power in responsibility and that power is control. The moment one blames themselves for an event, regardless of whether they are at fault or not, they put themselves in a position whereby they can seek to understand the situation better and are thus in a position to take active steps in ensuring that unfavourable event does not recur. If you trust someone with letting you host an event at a premises and that individual lets you down at last minute and as a result you are unable to host the event; you are faced with 2 choices (A) It’s not your fault and that person is in the wrong(which is true) and (B) You are to blame. If you adopt (A) you do not grow, yes it’s not your fault but that pain and suffering is likely to happen again whereas if you adopt (B) you accept the reality of the outcome and start placing measures to ensure that it does not happen again. You start ensuring that you have back up venues and do character analysis of people you work with to ensure that you don’t find yourself depending on unreliable people. With option (B) you effectively place more control over an unfavourable situation.
You see, as South Africans we suffer from several backlashes from our past that affect us to this day. Lack of transformation and poverty cycles, which gives rise to various social ills, poverty, lack of education, traditionalism, crime and stupidity. Conventionally we blame all these on apartheid and “white monopoly capital” which is partially true but that’s the scab on the surface there is also a festering wound underneath that needs to be treated. The reality is that as black people we are also to blame for the occurrence of these ills (This is the point where your blood starts boiling). This is primarily due to the decisions we have made in leadership, development, traditionalism, religion, lack of unity and life style decisions. We also have this idea that the world should be fair and that, just like in Hollywood movies, there is a happy ending and that good will triumph over evil. These are realities Black Man, harsh realities that you need to assimilate.
“They are the bullies of the world that cum-lauded their degrees and still go around collecting other countries’ lunch money”
Its survival of the fittest and the weakest shall be skinned alive and their skin shall be used as flags which will symbolise honour and respect to the winning houses whilst the flesh shall be gnawed and drained of all the flavour and spat out to be used as fertiliser for palm trees. And they will be praised and revered. You don’t believe me? The pilgrims slaughtered the Native Americans and rose to define the world we live in. They are the bullies of the world that cum-lauded their degrees and still go around collecting other countries’ lunch money. That’s the justice that exists in this world. This world has no pity or remorse. No counsel or therapy exists to enable you to adjust to this “unfair” system. You have yourself and only yourself. At best we have to walk it off, it’s not easy but it must be done. We have to search for solutions, the excuse “apartheid excuse” is played out. Yes it has had a great impact on who we are today but its not a justification for failure to change and grow as a nation. A solutions based approach is needed. We shouldn’t forget where we come from but where we come from should not be a reason for us to be stagnant.
Dear Mzo
thanks for sharing your thought piece.
I first need to clarify the usage of certain words in your piece that I prefer to respond to you, paragraph by paragraph, grant me patience if you may.
your heading reads “what if black’s…” and your first paragraph refers to “as black people…” however not too long before the paragraph ends you refer to “…where we are going as a nation..” I’m confused, if we are blacks, what is the nation? my assumption in this case is that the nation includes everyone else and blacks. or perhaps you mean a ”black nation”? which would be expected that in your piece you mention black nation since all of us in South Africa are very often called ‘the rainbow nation’.
You mention “to reflect on what we as a (black) people have done in the past…”, dear Mzo, what is the past? are you trying to refer to our (black people) past as only the apartheid era you speak of? No Mzo, our (black people) past does not start at the apartheid era, it dates back years before that. one example (ofcourse amongst many) is the khoi san where there was no form of colonialization yet. now before we start talking about or dwelling on how we have been exploited, do you think we have given enough time to celebrate our very rich and beautiful history? have our elders not taught us that much; and we as generations that follow, not learnt that much about ourselves and our ancestral lines that we have become clouded in only seeing ourselves through the darkness that apartheid started at and left? Mzo, do we not need to start with reflecting into ourselves and therefore actually enabling us to see that in fact, we are not to blame for other external peoples evil intentions for humanity? NO Mzo, we are not to blame for apartheid. we were not sitting in big meetings or rooms, or where ever; constructing and building apartheid! Mzo, we were out there living amongst each other, caring, sharing, UBUNTU Mzo, that is what we were doing. UBUNTU amognst black people was like breathing everyday air, it was within us. Why do you think today UBUNTU is a rather difficult thing for “other” people to adapt/adopt to?? NO Mzo, we are not to blame to have been open heartedly accepting to ”other” people into our land to share the prosperities that we have. Mzo if you look at it much deeper than the surface you are floating on, we were vulnarable becuase we are a people that genuinely value living together. do not also forget terms like ‘motho ke motho ka batho’. Mzo looks like you are expecting too much and too soon rather, for a black man to be peaceful and move forward happingly. when do we heal Mzo? the TRC was only means to try and redress this deep, deep wound. we are only 22 years into a so called democracy. Mzo do you know how many years it took to construct apartheid and therefore implement it?? i would assume it is probably even more years than our democratic country.
Mzo are you so sure to write this piece on a basis that the black nation has healed?
We will continue with the rest of the article, I will park it here until you come back to me.
Regards,
Young and hopeful lady.
Thanks for your response Karabo.
I’d like to thank you for being polite in your response, some who have read this article have not extended me that courtesy.
I think its important to understand the argument that i am trying to bring forward. My article seeks to articulate that although we are not responsible nor are to blame for what happened, we need to assume that position in order to take control of our destiny and healing. If you notice the example I used you will notice that what i am trying to communicate is that when there is an injustice which has occurred principals will often dictate that he who has caused that injustice is responsible for rectifying that injustice. Therefore at hand the injustice that exists is oppression(to mention apartheid alone was an oversight) and the status quo dictates that those who benefitted from or carried out such an injustice be in the forefront of rectifying it. How ever this has not occured, if anything the injustice is being ignored and not realized intentionally by the beneficiaries and is left on the floor dangerously like broken glass harming us as we manoeavre around it. The article therefore aims to advocate that we should take back the power of healing and not only that but review the weakness that made us susceptible to such an injustice. And that’s the stumbling block of our healing is that we believe that it will be a unilateral act out of our hands. We believe a race that has oppressed and abused us for centuries is capable of assisting in such healing. We are so obsessed with the wound that we never reassess the cause of the wound, how it could’ve been prevented and whether we can heal it ourselves. He/She that breaks your heart cannot logical be trust with the sole responsibility of mending it, often even having that expectation is dangerous.
We will never receive the apology nor the acknowledgement of the injustice therefore we need to forgive ourselves and heal ourselves. As a black nation have we acknowledged and understood what made us susceptible to such exploitation? Have we assessed and put measures in place to ensure that such never happens again? Or are we of the assumption that human kind has evolved and fallen inlove with the darker race even though we are still marginalised in our country both economically and socially?
We are on our own!
You are both right, the love and kindness that we have as blacks is our major weakness. By acknowledging what has caused us to lose everything to a visitor will help defend what remains, possibly regain what we lost. Crying and mourning all the time will never help us with anything. Rainbow nation is a term used to easy the weak and give hope to those who have doubts about the new system.