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White people must take responsibility for legacy

Nov 30, 2009 10:34 PM | By Lizza Littlewort, Cape Town

Lizza Littlewort, Cape Town: The country is being polarised along racial lines.

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As we have seen, there is political advantage in this for some people.

Any disagreement coming from white voices can conveniently be lumped together, whether it comes from crudely racist or politically informed positions.

We all look the same, and the amount of complaining and criticising we do makes us all sound the same.

Zapiro now has an abundance of right-wing fans, while township residents want his blood. This is a sharp turnaround.

The vast majority of black youth, born after the mid-1980s, do not grow up in a world signposted with information about the well- meaning white folk who sided with the ANC in the struggle.

Why should they be told this kind of thing, and who is going to do it? Yet we expect them to find out about it, and we're outraged when they behave in ways that demonstrate they don't give a damn.

We expect them to realise that we are nuanced and politically diverse and cannot all be boxed in with the apartheid regime and the Reitz Four. And yet we never bother to point this out.

Pointing this out is exactly what we need to do, publicly and a lot.

This is a relationship we're in. We can't just say "I love you" once, 15 years ago, and expect it to be remembered.

As Pieter-Dirk Uys said, there is no blueprint for what is going to happen here. We are making the blueprint.

There has never been a situation like ours in history. It is ours to construct, and it is complicated and difficult in the extreme.

We are part of the privileged minority who inflicted such emotional pain that it bends people out of shape in ways often too frightening to imagine, and yet we expect them to live up to our studenty Utopian ideals smartly and timeously, and we turn nasty when they don't.

We are not rising to the challenge of this extraordinary historical situation. We need to take a step back and think a lot harder.

There is a huge amount of work to be done in the white community, not by taking the splinters out of anyone else's eyes, but by taking responsibility for our historical legacy that is still far from over.

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Comments

Dec 1 2009 12:10:24 AM
Cathy
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Aaarrgghh!

This race thing is truly getting everyone down.Blow your own horn somewhere else Lizza Littlewort, unless you are willing to take the collective blame for the sham that is called the "NEW" South Africa. Look around you. Is this really what you fought for? Check out the education system, see the sewerage flowing in the street. Have you been to a state hospital recently?

Seems you are mad because you can't join your former comrades at the trough. Sorry ma'am, they are not interested in inviting you, despite your "noble" efforts to help make South Africa ungovernable!
Dec 1 2009 02:11:05 AM
madeinchina
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How does one relate with baboons? Lisa go and kiss asses of your racist government.
Dec 1 2009 02:12:47 AM
Tackler
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White people were magnanimous enough to change their treatment of blacks and to voluntarily subject themselves to the surrender of their political hegemony.

But that's all. They're not going to be talked into hairshirt-wearing and public flagellation for the amusement of blacks.

It's just not going to happen. Work around that reality. Move on.
Dec 1 2009 04:01:34 AM
noracistsplease
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I have no issue with admitting that I have had a privileged upbringing being white. I am acutely aware of the history of our country, both black and white, and abhor people of any form who display intolerance and ignorance toward other people.

However, It is a two way street. When the leaders in government, voted into power to LEAD the people, use the race card to get ahead, and blame white oppression for their failings, they lead the very youth you speak of in the same direction. I don't expect a kid from a township to give two hoots about me, or my position on race. But when a youth leader marches in, blaming whites for the state of the nation, who do you think the kid listens to? White's played no part in wasting government money, had no part in the collapsing of hospitals, the pathetic levels of education, and the soaring crime rate.

I am called a colonialist, an imperialist. I was born in Africa. But I cannot be an african. Why? because the leadership in government wont let me. I am reminded at every turn about my whiteness. My father, a kind open hearted man who has supported our domestic worker for almost 30 years is tainted with a legacy he cannot shake.

People will respond to this and say "shame", or "leave", "shut up whitey". It is to THEM you should address your opinion, and it is THEIR response which will shake you to your core.

It is all of our collective white responsibility to be aware of our history and privilege. But we need the people who's voice is actually listened to, to be a part of a solution, and not fan the flames of racist bigotry.

Dec 1 2009 06:57:59 AM
Tackler
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Whites will not belly-crawl. Ever.
Dec 1 2009 07:12:01 AM
say_it_like_it_is
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The well meaning whites are used then conveniently forgotten.

Unlike other opinions Notice how no blacks seem to have come to rally around your call. I wonder why?

Remember one thing under white rule the Black population grew to what it was. Unlike today few died of hunger nor illness.

Racism breeds Racism. No trust breeds Racism. Because the ANC won the political war of the time does not mean they are the moral compass. In fact the reverse is more than evident.

The problems of today are the direct result of liberation before education and urealist promises together with politically expedient decisions.

Dec 1 2009 08:44:40 AM
Vince
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The polarisation discussed in the article is amply reflected in the comments, which all conflate black people with the government.

Nowhere in the article did it say that this was a call for support of the government. It said that there are whites who supported the Struggle, and that was it.

It is precisely this lumping of all blacks into one box and all whites into another that is making us lose our human connections as people and forget what progress we were making towards non-racialism.
Dec 1 2009 08:49:26 AM
geanann
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My, my. Better we go around and do washing of the feet whilst our white brethren ar brutally murdered in their houses by disciples of Machine Gun Jacob and Clown Prince Julius branding all whites as racist.
See:
http://letterdash.com/g.annandale/dangerous-woman
Dec 1 2009 08:58:33 AM
donorfatigued
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No,No,No! Liza Littleworts hand-wringing liberal white guilt is speaking here!

White people have done what no others in this universe have done without great violence first - they have collectively seen the error of their previous political system and relinquished it, and any privileged position that came from it.

To expect whites to forever apologise over apartheid is typical of the white liberal establishment who wander around chanting their mantra, " white is bad, black is good " at every opportunity - when all around they can see, should they wish to look, the evdience of appalling black failure!

Liza and her ilk will have none of it of course, preferring to keep the blinkers on!
Dec 1 2009 10:25:07 AM
bart
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I think it was 70% percent of us who basically voted for the end of apartheid. No acknowledgement of that - the racist rhetoric comes from the black government now- they so obviously want racism entrenched in this country it is blinding, its an easy way for them to keep the majority voting for them - even if they make a mess of everything. The patronising ultra left white liberals - selling the black man out again. I agree we should try hard not to be racist, but we are constantly encouraged to be by the ruling party - its hard work.


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