Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

A few weeks ago I stopped at a convenience store to get a bottle of water. A TV behind the counter was showing a report on the recent wedding of Bryan Habana, a star player for the Springboks, the South African national rugby team.

“It’s just not right,” the clerk said as I paid for my drink. “Excuse me?” I replied. “It’s not right,” she said. “Whites and non-whites should not marry.”

Habana, you see, is coloured – that is, he's a native South African of mixed heritage – and his new wife is white. And that clearly did not sit well with the white store attendant.

I’m not naïve enough to think everyone has moved past such prejudices. Even among my own circle of friends, I know certain individuals who would agree with this woman. But it’s still troubling to encounter such blatant racism face to face.

On Friday night I attended a dance performance at Ocean View, a township of several thousand coloured people. As I watched the performers – from elementary school-age children all the way up to young adults – I was greatly impressed by their considerable talent and happy to know they are getting opportunities to develop it. I was also saddened to think about all the parents and grandparents who lived under Apartheid rule and, rather than being encouraged to develop their talents, were essentially told, “You’re no good and you’ll never amount to anything.”

Yesterday I got another view of South Africa's Apartheid past, thanks to a visit to Cape Town's District Six Museum. District Six had been a neighborhood of freed slaves, merchants, artisans and immigrants, but early in the 20th century they began to be removed under white rule. In 1966 the neighborhood was declared a “White Group Area” and the real demolition began, with homes and businesses being bulldozed. By 1982 more than 60,000 people had been forcibly removed from this once-vibrant community, and sent to outlying areas with far less desirable living conditions.

And it was all because they had different-colored skin and were considered “inferior.” Today it seems inconceivable that people behaved so despicably. Yet we all know that racism still exists and is far from being eradicated. I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know this: God made every one of us in His image and He did not intend for anyone to feel superior over another because of his or her skin color.