Fatigued by the shrill, predictable noise that has been
ricocheting off the congested social media space this month, a Facebook post from
my son’s Afrikaans teacher, still caught my jaded eye.
“Can all my white
friends please read this,” she appealed, linking to a post from a blogger, Sifiso
Mazibuko, in which he offered some New Year’s resolutions for white South
Africans. Unlike the disturbing rants from both sides of the seemingly widening
racial divide, Mazibuko’s tone was gentle and conciliatory. Committed to a
united country, it was a heart-felt wish for South Africans to not retreat but
to reach out to each other. (click to the link to the article here)
He said there was a tendency for whites to believe that after
1994, we “were all automatically made equal” so we should put the past behind
us. But it was easier for those who had not been the victims of discrimination
to move on. It was his view that blacks had “come to the party”, that
forgiveness and reconciliation had largely been one-sided. The Springboks were adopted, Die Stem was melded
into the national anthem, the National Party was included in government and
perpetrators of violent atrocities given amnesty under the TRC.
Twenty years into democracy, Mazibuko’s 2015 resolutions are simple.
Whites could: learn an indigenous language to connect with the “culture and the
heart of the person”; support a PSL soccer team; stop telling black people to
“just get over it”; and be empathetic, making an effort to acknowledge the pain
of the past. “Then we can figure out a way forward together,” he said, ending
with: “Ons vir jou Suid Afrika”.
Unlike so many posts that drive a wedge instead of building
bridges, Mazibuko’s thoughtful piece, which tried to make sense of the growing
frustration among black South Africans, did not trigger a finger-pointing
exercise. What it did was get people to think about how much we have done to
genuinely learn about cultures other than our own, and how much transformation
had taken place within our own lives.
I discussed it with my family at the dinner table. Even
though I was among the ’80s generation inspired by the struggle for a non-racial
South Africa, I now risked becoming complacent. I was retreating into my
comfort zone, not making an effort to cross barriers. I had always been
outspoken about racist comments from white suburbia, but I now caught myself slipping
towards passive protest: ignoring it but lamely moving away.
As a typical lazy English-speaking South African, I had only
made a feeble attempt to learn more than a few phrases of Xhosa. I could get
away with it. Everybody else was taking the trouble to master my home language.
But now, were my children at risk of also growing up where
the conversation would stop shortly after introductory greetings?
These thoughts had bubbled up after my daughter Ella, who was
about to start high school, had told me she was going to switch her second
additional language choice from Xhosa to French. “Xhosa is so hard,” she said,
after I asked why. I had given in to her, not wanting to force my will on her.
But In the car on her first day of school last week, I had a
15-minute window. I reminded her of our
dinner table conversation, where we resolved together to make more effort. Xhosa
would enrich her life. Ella was silent. Just before we reached the school, she
said, “Okay mom, I will stick with Xhosa.” And off she went.
If forcing one’s own agenda is bad parenting and Ella resents
me later, I won’t resort to the South African blame game. I won’t point a
finger at Mazibuko. But if Ella thanks me later, I will extend my gratitude to
him.
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