Hate speech is blind ignorance

It also seems a litigious overreaction from The Chinese Association to respond to random social media venom by opening a case of crimen injuria and calling for every Chinese person ever slighted by racism to head to a police station to lay a charge.

But all is not as it seems. These snapshots of a current storm churned up over the trade in donkey skin don't address the knotted complexities of what drives racism. They also do not untangle the history of the different Chinese communities living in South Africa today and why differentiation matters.

It matters because by being associated through skin colour - not necessarily allegiance - to a superpower that continues to attract misgivings and distrust, invites suspicion.

People are too conveniently lumped together as "The Chinese community". There are over 100 Chinese associations in South Africa . There are connections based on distinct waves of migration (dating from the 1660s) to regional affiliation and business networks. There are also individuals who have no affiliation with any association.

The decision by The Chinese Association to take a legal stand against hate speech draws a line in the sand. It demands differentiated treatment as it emphasises its South African roots from 1903 and declares itself "Proudly South African". It recognises that not being appropriated into the amalgamated whole of being Chinese is an advantage.

It also sends a message that the old stereotype from before 1994, of a small community not wanting to rock the boat despite been treated like second-class citizens along with all non-white South Africans, has changed. It's not a community contained in the identity of dragon dancing, chow mein and being quietly pliant to make others feel comfortable. They bite back, especially on social media, where the most recent racist outbursts erupted.

Social media is not the birthplace of racism, but it is a breeding ground, fertile with muck and madness. Even as the association announced last week its decision to pursue legal redress against those who posted on the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary's Facebook page comments such as "There are no more disgusting humans than Chinese people. I wish they all just die. Every single one ...", it served only to set off more hate speech.

There was a ready parade of "sins of the yellow man" in South Africa such as abalone poaching and rhino killings, and references to faraway Yulin, Guangxi, China, where an annual dog meat festival takes place. It showed up social media's one-dimensional nature and how debate stays flimsy, propped up by the validation of echo chambers and relative anonymity.

Racist reactions to firework displays and cruel treatment of donkeys were first to be thrown onto the fire. Next could be the import of Chinese labour for local infrastructure projects or maybe a trade deal that looks dubiously uneven for South Africa.

Who's to put out those racist flames? Or will the Chinese - pigeonholed by melanin - themselves be thrown into the fire? There isn't a special hell for donkey torturers or racists - there just would not be enough room for us all to burn.