A RACE TO THE FINISHING LINE...

A ‘RACE’ to the finishing lines…

The theme on Civil Rights and Democracy allowed me to think about race and how it influences many social challanges in both South Africa and The United States of America. As we come out of a lustrous and turbulent pass I think it’s wise to realised we have made strides in ensuring a democracy continues, and that people are “equal’ in the eyes of the law.

However, we met with both knowledgeable and influential people in the civil movement in the States during the week. The most memorable was Mr Julian Bond andCongressman John Lewis. I felt like I did when I was 10, sitting with my grandpa rehashing the stories of his experiences and the past he had lived through! They represented the age of freedom, civil rights and democracy for all people. As they continued to share their experiences we embraced with memories on the walls, photographs of Congressman John Lewis walking hand in hand with Martin Luther King, we could see the riots and fighting amongst the freedom parties and the police…and as their stories continued; you could see the pride they took in fighting against injustices! A valuable moment during the discussion was when the Congressman said, “THE YOUTH IS TOO QUEIT, YOU HAVE TO MAKE NOISE AND SHAKE THE WORLD FOR CHANGE!’’. This made me realise, we have been silent, and the youth today do not have the zest and the fighting spirit of our forefathers. We tend to sit idly by and hope that change will happen. Ultimately it is our future and the outcome is solely on our shoulders.  The racial segregation in South Africa has become a point of departure when discussing influences of social development and growth since our young democracy. When discussing the challenges we wish to tackle as a country and the vision we have as a society, we seem to have to very broad spectrums.

On the one side we have the ‘’flower power’’ approach, this basically means that the past is in the past, words such as apartheid, black, white, coloured and other stigmatised words should be erased and that we should hold hands and sing KUMBAYA. The flower picking, blue skies and green grass, with a serein and happy vision on the horizon! In a land where we all live in peace and harmony as one as the true rainbow nation.  This pictures view is followed by a blend of not only race and genders, but a society where racism is a distant and far-fetched notion.

The other side of the spectrum, is the ugly, revengeful, dark and sullen world. A world were no growth is possible because the soil is polluted and the air is heavy. The growth of our society is rooted in the polluted soil of racial economic segregation, poverty, crime and the racial hate that is a commonality amongst our community.  

These two opposite end is the split vision I see in my society. None of which have paved a way to find a solution to help evolve democracy and the way we view race. My suggestion, was to break away from what I coined ‘the RACE FACE’. This is a behaviour pattern I noticed both in the States and in South Africa. People are rarely honest about their opinions, emotions, experiences and understandings of race. IN my opinion, it has become very superficial, were race is something people only little touch on. As forgetting the scars of what the diversity of race has left us, is possibly a dream, it should however remain a topic of discussion till we fully understand and breach the inequality that exists.  The “RACE FACE’ strives to do this. By removing your “RACE FACE” you can truly understand the position of the other person, their experiences and compare and find common ground. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not presupposing that people aren’t genuine with people of another race; my experience is that people tend to be more comfortable around their own “kind”,(* I use the word ‘kind’ because grouping races can get really tricky in South Africa).This means they share commonalties, and share easier than they would around a more diverse ethnic group. I feel that the youth should start peeling away the “RACE FACE’ factor, and talk about it openly and honestly. This will cultivate a better narrative of race and the growth we intend to make.

I compared the States to South Africa and found that we aren’t treading far behind in the RACE. We are trying to change the narrative of South Africa’s classification of race, and broadening our understanding of the role it continues to play in society’s growth.  This gives me hope to continue to change the way we view race as a prominent fixture in South Africa. It made me realise that we have the potential as a rainbow nation has to break the mould of race, and accept the potential ‘flower power’ our country has!