Racism, Reconciliation, The Past, Forgiveness

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."-Nelson Mandella

I took a picture of the large plaque over the pond at the Apartheid Museum with this quote etched into it, but unfortunately I haven't been able to upload it onto here due to reasons I've already mentioned in previous entries (stupid network :( ).  Last night I attended a panel discussion at the University of KwaZulu-Natal about racism in South Africa and across the globe.  It was an extremely intense discussion with very impassioned African students standing up and voicing their anger that Apartheid, although the legal system itself has been abolished, still reigns in the cultural constructs of the country.  I'm not sure if any of you heard about the incident that occurred here in South Africa recently at one of the universities where 2 white students harassed 2 black maids doing janitorial work in the dorm rooms, by making them drink urine, and hazing them in other horrifying ways.  The white students made a video of it at the end making the statement, "this is how we feel about black people."  The tape leaked out to the media somehow, and it has made international news creating a new uproar in the country.  

Something that one of the professors by the name of Mark Maharaj said last night during the panel discussion that has been turning around endlessly in my head since attending, was that the world has failed to address the issue of racism.  In other words, his point was that the world hasn't done its job to take care of its people in this manner.  But South Africa he mentioned, has the power to change all of that this day and age, because unlike the United States, in South Africa it is the majority who is discriminated against rather than the minority, thereby giving this country enormous amounts of power to eradicate the evils of racism.  Since the majority is oppressed they have a greater voice that can be heard across great distances if enough of them are given the opportunity to stand up.  The U.S. doesn't have this ability or this power on their side.  

Being a minority in the United States and even a minority here (as I'm half black half white-or "coloured" in South African terms-and most here are black), I've gained a perspective that I never intended on gaining prior to coming here.  I've realized how much race and racism is not talked about nearly enough in the United States, and few people truly know about how racism effects its victims in more than 1 in our country.  With Barack Obama's recent speech I feel this is as good a time as any to discuss this.  What I saw last night was inspirational in that it represented the true power of speech and speaking out about what one believes in.  America I feel appreciates silence too much on the important issues, and silence is what destroys and causes ignorance.  Additionally "we need to put our personal stories on the table" as that same professor also mentioned, so that people know what the oppressed is forced to experience day after day.  People aren't willing to speak enough in the States I feel, and this needs to change.  

This week I've been placed in the focused study of reconciliation, and one of the things we've talked about are the issues of forgiveness and healing the past.  Is it possible for blacks to forgive whites in South Africa for decades of oppression and sorrow during the Apartheid era?  Is it possible for a White family to forgive the Black perpetrators who murdered their daughter, who was a white American activist in South Africa during Apartheid standing up for the rights of Blacks, just as in the case of a young woman named Amy Biehl?  How can people heal after experiencing great oppression that has been so ingrained within the general society for years upon years?  Can we reconcile the past with the present, and forgive ourselves and others?  These are the questions that I've been grappling with for the past week, and after hearing Obama's speech, it's something that our nation must also begin to think about.  

The most important themes that I believe Obama portrayed in his speech were understanding, and hope.  He used the word "must" in saying that it is imperative that we come to an understanding of one another by realizing that people's anger about these sensitive issues is very real and legitimate.  I witnessed that anger last night at the racism forum-it was an anger that I've never seen directly in front of me before, and that I've never heard in the voices of so many.  Just as Obama said in his speech, these students who spoke last night, feel that the past still isn't the past.  We must move forward, and we must deal with these issues if the world and our nation is ever going to survive.  

Maharaj is right in saying that South Africa has something to teach the rest of the world through their unique circumstances, but Obama believes that America could have something to teach the rest of the world as well through our sense of hope, and through developing a desire to understand each other on a level deeper than what we see on the outside.  But in order to do this, we're going to have to deal with, and attempt to heal the past through integrating it into the present.  I ask you all, what does this mean, and is this possible?

Please if you get the chance read and/or watch Obama's speech.  I got a copy of it for the first time today during our reconciliation discussion, and I tell you that is nothing that I've ever heard before.  While reading tears were on the verge of reaching the surface of my eyes.  Everything that I've hoped for and everything that I wish to work for in America is specifically talked about in his speech, and I have to admit, I was skeptical as to whether or not someone was actually going to say something.  Now someone has, and I can't tell you how much hope it brings to me.  Obama could have easily been talking about South Africa in his speech as the situations are so alike with so many individuals deeply affected in both countries in very similar ways.  Is this the moment of change that we need?  If so, lets not let it slip away.