An impression of racism in SA written by someone from the whitest state in America whose only been here for 60 days

Are people out there still interested in race issues? I'm not sure. I feel like racism just gets tossed around and when people talk about it the conversation goes in circles until you don't want to talk about it anymore. Well, this blog is about racism in South Africa. I don't have any answers about it. I just want to kick it around a little more because race is such a strong issue here.

The history of SA is similar to that of the States. There are indigenous people who have lived somewhere for a long time and European people come in. At first there might be some shaky peace between them, but in both cases there is eventually open war and genocide. The difference is that in the states, the native Americans were all but completely wiped out so that the white people vastly outnumbered them, whereas in SA the indigenous people weren't totally eradicated so they remained the majority. I think that difference has had huge implications down the line for how racism has developed here in SA.

So for decades and decades a white minority ruled over the black majority while slowly solidifying the separation of races. It was subtle at first, then grow more insidious with the dawn of the apartheid regime. Feelings of hatred took root on both sides. The upper class white people stood on the labor of a people that disgusted them and the lower class black people were becoming resentful and restless from being treated like they were something less than human.

Then the world grew up. People everywhere were coming to realize that all humans are equal and SA became a dangerous place of terrorism and secret armies and meetings. The black majority wanted to regain control of the country and they eventually got their way without a massive bloody civil war occurring. They turned SA into a republic and set up a government of their own people. They changed street names from things like Pine St to Masabalala Yengwa Ave. They changed stadium names to honor the heroes of the resistance. They set up affirmative action laws to encourage white-owned businesses to hire black people. They took down signs that said "Whites only." And what happened?

The white people still said "Take a left onto Pine St." They said "Let's go to the rugby match at Durban stadium." The white business owners took their companies to more stable countries. The 'whites only' areas are still for whites only, it just isn't clearly marked anymore. Durban proper is filled with Zulu and Indian peoples. Outer Durban is white country. When I walk downtown I am often the only white person around. All of the neighborhoods here belong to a race. If I make plans to go to a restaurant in a certain part of town I already know what color everyone there will be.

The white people are afraid. They all think that someday not too far away they will completely lose the country to black people. They chatter on and on about the neighboring country of Zimbabwe where the black people took control and forced all of the white people out and now the place is a total wasteland. They feel that they aren't adequately represented in the government and most of them simply reminisce about the good old days 20 years ago.

The black people are afraid. They all think that someday not too far away they will lose all of the big white-owned companies that power the economy. They chatter on and on about the neighboring country of Zimbabwe where the white people moved all the industry away and now the place is a total wasteland. They feel that things aren't really much different now and most of them simply wonder what things would be like if those European ships never landed in Cape Town.

There is a billboard not far from the ship that has two pictures on it. On the left there are naked black women carrying baskets on their heads wading through a muddy river that looks like it's straight out of National Geographic. On the right there is a group of black people bundled up in warm clothing crossing a walking bridge in cold weather in some city. Then the text underneath reads "Things are better now". The irony is that only a couple of kilometers away from that billboard there is an overpass where hundreds of homeless black people scrounge for food and sleep under newspaper and cardboard. The place is easily visible on the way back from a favorite restaurant of us who live on the ship. On more than one occasion I've gone out with friends, enjoyed great conversations and beautiful views of the harbor and sky and nice food and drink, then drove back passing a community of barrel fires and shivering women and hungry bellies.

The world hasn't grown up quite enough. This is a broken place. One person hates another because his distant ancestor wronged the other's. The God that I know can't stand division and deeply desires restoration. There it is again. All my blogs are about it these days. Restoration, redemption, unity, humans loving humans. As I write this I search for some hope of racial reconciliation. Not just for SA, but for this whole globe. It eludes me. I wish I could wrap up this blog in a nice little bow with a statement about how things are moving forward and people are changing. I can't conjure it now. Here's the best that I have: There is an infinitely powerful being whose priority is the restoration of everything that exists.