a short while ago two South Africans sparked an international discussion about racism, guilt and responsibility when they printed and distributed forty t-shirts with the slogan ‘I benefited from apartheid’ written on them:
well-known political satirist Jonathan Shapiro [aka Zapiro] came up with this minimalistic but powerful cartoon which expressed his take on the matter:
are they right? yes, for sure, i definitely had [and still have] benefits from apartheid – they were not as a result of my choosing, or even my parents choosing, but they are real.
so in a nutshell i have to feel guilty for being white.
i also have to feel guilty for being male. women have been oppressed in this country and around the world for who knows how many decades, centuries even. have i benefited from that? surely i have. i may not have chosen my penis but it has served me well, just by being there.
what else is there?
english-speaking? because surely as one of the dominant languages that worldwide communication and media have been presented in, this has forced some kind of pain and trauma on those who have been forced to speak it?
christian? while i prefer the term ‘Christ-follower personally’ i know that being grouped in this group racks up the score column for guilt and shame [no-one expected the Spanish Inquisition…]
how about heterosexual? [because heaven knows we’ve treated the gays badly]
i imagine there are probably more, but it seems as if there is enough data to suggest that i am part of the most privileged demographic imaginable – white male heterosexual english-speaking christian… and therefore the most guilty.
i think i get it. to a large extent. having benefited from apartheid etc etc i need to own that and take responsibility and be involved in reconciliation and reparation where possible as well as doing what i can do to address the various imbalances that now exist as a result of the past.
at the same time, is there a time when it ends? when i can stop feeling the need to feel guilty because i am white, because i am a man, because i…
because, to be very honest, i did not have a lot of say in the whiteness of my white, i wasn’t all that involved in the maleness of my maleity, i was born into english, i am attracted to women [and one very beautiful one in particular]
the only thing on my list that i can see that i had any part in choosing to be a part of is the christian one and even there i have chosen to align myself to a Christ-following which i hope looks a LOT different from the majority of wrongs and perversions that the typical historical christian [those who profess one thing but live another] has gotten horribly wrong.
in terms of the apartheid debris in South Africa, i will continue to do what i can to make amends and take responsibility for the past i largely inherited, but will there be a time when i am allowed to ask questions of the post-apartheid government who continue to be a hive of corruption, mismanagement, greed and nepotism and spend/waste/party this country into the ground?
because, to be honest, it’s been 18 years now. you’re practically legal new democracy. Mandela showed you the way you could choose to live – with grace, forgiveness, honour, invitation, integrity… and it is up to you at some stage to embrace that.
to be honest, i don’t actively carry any guilt for any of who i am, no matter how much the pressure is exerted to do so. i know that i’m far from perfect and i try to live better, day to day, than how i lived the day before. i try to take responsibility when i mess up and make things right with the people i have hurt or wronged. and i believe this is something that needs to be embraced by every one of us, so that we can really turn this country around and make it the incredible place it should be.
so when do we stop blaming apartheid? when do we start taking responsibility together?
unity.
ubuntu.
you and me. let’s do this.
It has never been about guilt. It is about – as you yourself said – needing ” to own that and take responsibility and be involved in reconciliation and reparation where possible as well as doing what i can do to address the various imbalances that now exist as a result of the past”
And it is not a white-people responsibility, it is for all of us to do it together…but it does start with people admitting to it and realising that even though it’s 18 years later, the damage still remains. It is not, as some believe, just a case of black people being too lazy and just wanting hand-outs from government.
Yes Brett. I am one of them too. I think we need to change the question though. Who do we look to for approval?
Heb 13:15-17 Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord. Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God. Obey your leaders and follow their orders. They watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not, they will do it with sadness, and that would be of no help to you.
We are told in another place to pra for them.
I think a lot of the confusion and offence and anger comes from our understanding of what we think it means to bear guilt. I don’t believe that acknowledging an unjust reality and your role in it (deliberate or not) and working to change it has to mean feeling bad about yourself and denying who you are and what you are…
Also, acknowledging an unfair benefit is not the same as acknowledging direct blame…
Pretty damn good. One of the best perspectives I’ve read.
I believe the most unfortunate part is that democracy is about the majority, which has been deprived from a lot of necessities(basic living, education, self-respect… etc) for a long while. Now we are at the hands of products of that… and as a christian, you are aware of the father’s sins curse his children and generations to come (how many?).
You should add that since you’ve relocated abroad (as many South Africans do) that you should feel guilty for not sticking around to right some of those ‘wrongs’, because it’s more convenient to remove yourself from having to deal with the seemingly insurmountable task of dealing with crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality in South Africa.
You may not be ready to claim that personally for all the work you’re doing/done abroad, but there are MANY white South Africans, family included, who’ve have become naturalized British citizens having left SA years ago, like many before and after them, a large part of them moving abroad was to start a ‘better life’, one with reduced risks of crime, violence and poverty, and much of that has been possible due to colonial history and being both white and previously advantaged.
That said is it much different from those who choose to stay in SA and do nothing? Using their middle class status as previously advantaged South Africans continuing to enjoy that privilege with little to no regards for those around them, unless it invades their own immediate personal space/life?
From the outside looking in. Should you feel guilty. A big NO. Guilt is only ever healthy when you’ve done something wrong. Not when you’ve been made to FEEL like you’ve done something wrong. Like your own example of being white etc, etc. Or indeed for being black, or as you mention, for being in a same sex relationship, or for masturbating, or for a whole heap of other things that people have tried to call wrong in an of themselves for no sound reason.
Regarding the 18 year “it’s about time things changed” thing. I think it’s perfectly right for you as a white (etc., etc.) to call for change and challenge injustice. But I think you’d be wise to not expect it to happen quickly. 18 years is, comparitively, a moment in time. Apartheid was obviously around for a long, long time before anyone started to listen to the calls for change regarding that. Mandela as you suggested, has led by a very gracious example. Without him I suspect there would have been, as bad as things may seem now, a lot, lot worse. Beat someone long enough and you will usually get a patient that is very ill and takes a long time to recover. And by “patient” I mean not just those directly affected by apartheid, but by the country as a whole. This need for some to feel guilty for something there parents or grandparents did is part of the illness. But trying to take responsibility, even if mistakenly, is not the worse kind of response to that sense of sickness.
Truth is that unity thing would work if all white people were repentant, gave back what was taken by force, and if all black people were like Madiba. Truth is no one wants to loose, even the Christ follower, whether black or white. Truth is, a legal democracy (i.e. A negotiated freedom) is no synonym for true Liberation.
Hey Brett
Wow, thanks for this.
Here are my (slightly scattered) thoughts…
1) I think white guilt can be totally misplaced, and it can also be very valid (like black guilt, or Indian guilt, or any other kind).
2) Jesus forgives – totally, utterly – anyone who truly repents. So that means he would even forgive a perpetrator of apartheid, or a corruptor of the New SA. Their guilt and shame would be gone forever. Nailed to the cross. Gratitude, yes. Guilt, no.
3) We’re chosen for such a time as this. I love Isaiah 41:4 – about how God summons each new generation from the beginning of time. It’s not for nothing that we are where we are, when we are. My most fervent prayer for the country is that the church (and of course by that I mean the people) will be a light that draws the nation to Jesus – only true Source of peace, healing, joy, restoration and life-piled-on-life, to borrow something from Tennyson…
Brett, you have a voice God is using in SA.
Love Dee
You know, I really don’t care about what place it is, but I think I should pray that Helene and I get to live within walking distance of you and Val at some point in our lives! Miss you bro! And love the challenge of this post!
dude, i think the feeling is pretty mutual – will add you to our ‘people we’d love to live in walking distance from’ list for sure… [definitely have to plan an Oakland trip this year!]