American in Joberg

Preface: I am an American living in Johannesburg and my domestic partner is South African. I have lived here for almost a year and have a somewhat unique perspective being an outsider yet also living amongst South Africans and having a South African extended family.

Plus: Already see it coming: White South Africans that want to call me naive, liberal, or worse (you know the name, I won't repeat it...) bugger off. I have been robbed in my home, tied up, had a knife put to my throat and then was pissed on..... and I have decided to stay here in your country and live and work and volunteer my time.....so I know the score!!!

First of all, this is the most race concious place in the world. The fact that even white liberals cannot think outside the racial box and have to base all arguments in the racial lingo proves the essential point of the problem: People look at the color of a person's skin here to define them first before they look at them as an individual. (This goes for blacks and whites.) I can say this with impunity because I too, since arriving here, and especially after being robbed have had to fight daily a battle with myself to stay intellectually honest and not descend into ignorant rascism. It is a natural human instinct to distrust and dislike someone easily identifiable as diffrent. Freud would say it is an attempt to maintain the relationship you have with your own self identity.....

The majority of each race here is so consumed with racial identity and use it to define themselves...that it is easy to see someone of another race as the "other," and never or only after that look beyond, to see the person as a person. All this crap about imperialists, colonialists, mud hut dwellers, albino disease...... you people are in need of a drastic wake up call. You need to get over your own fears of others or your country is going nowhere. The simple fact is that everybody of every race needs each other in this country to make it a better place. There is so much lost potential and so much passive agressive anger here, it should be bottled to solve the world's energy crisis.

I am so saddened by some white people here who are ready to pack up and leave rather then roll up their sleeves and make a difference. If those people who had left to go overseas had taken half the time and effort it takes to emmigrate and poured those efforts into the community here...South Africa might actually be more like the place they think they want to live in. This isn't even my country and I volunteer my time with HIV and AIDS orphans in an attempt to try and make a difference....how many of you that have left came close to doing anything like that? If the answer is "I shouldn't have to do anything to feel safe in my own home." Well...I have news for you. You are not entitled to anything in this world.....and we are all memebers of a community charged with the responsibility to contribute to it.

I was shocked when I was at a community meeting on crime mostly attended by whites who sat back and just listened, refusing to actively participate. Time to get over your white guilt and realize you are part of a community. Don't allow yourselves to be defined and categorized away in a box. There are a lot of white South Africans I see making a positive difference and then there are those who are content to whine and complain and sit on their hands. You are members of the community!!!! Don't make excuses, just do....and don't give me the crap about working against the tide.....what bull.

Then there are some blacks like the disgusting pigs that made the most offensive comments in this blog about pussies and rape, etc. What is it about your skin color that makes you think you're diffrent? What is that you are willing to do to others that you are not willing to have done to you and your wives and mothers? membership to a racial group should not be grounds for entitlement...and this goes both ways. If you want to be treated equally then you must live by the golden rule.

We are all JUST PEOPLE...mothers, fathers, sisters , brothers, lovers...... we need to RESPECT one another. The truth is that a black person who is a victim of crime and a white person who is a victim of crime have more in common then a black criminal or a white criminal does to either one of them.

If one wants to visit SA, I say...come and visit... it is a great country....but use the requisite amount of caution and care required for a country that has a crime problem like SA. You are not in danger every moment, but you need to be cautious and use care. Crime is the most untenable thing here in terms of quality of life. The vitriol on this website is not indicative of all South Africans and you will not feel subject to rascism by and large, though you will probably feel it in the air as it hangs thick from all quarters.

As an American, I miss the saftey of living at home, but surprisingly you get used to the way things are here very quickly. As with everything it is a state of mind. If you want to live your life in fear, your life will be miserable. If you want to live your life as an empowered individual, you will lead an empowered life. After I was robbed I could have packed up and said "screw this third world hell hole...." but that would have been the easy way out. (And I am not denying that if I had kids I might not have thought twice about it...)

You can't negate the history here in SA...and that is why I am tolerant of prejudices in people here that I would not tolerate back home. There is nothing like the experience of a sweet white granny here serving you cookies (biscuits, sorry...) and saying, "bloody kaffirs." Jaw dropping experience, but it is all she has known. I have seen a lot of blacks who shrug it off too. Most South Africans will keep their racial prejudices to themselves if they see you are a foreigner....but amongst themselves I see it is still perfectly acceptable to air their views amongst each other. Plus, having become friends with several blacks here I am surprised to see the racially prejudicial attitude towards other blacks of a diffrent tribe. When will it all stop?

To every whinger and complainer...I tell you: Do what you can to make an effort to bridge the gap everyday by doing something substanative....or at the very least....try to correct yourself when ignorant ideas come into your own head.

Remember...person first.....color second. Try it, you might like it.

Chris 28 Oct 2008, 01:47 - Report