The other day I was chilling out on the steps of the cathedral in town and a man approached me and sat down next to me. We greeted each other in Xhosa (I’m getting a little better at least at using the greetings naturally with making it sound forced). I told him my name was Jeremy and he told me his English name was Patrick. We started talking for a little bit and he told me he was poor, hungry, and HIV+, and asked if I could help him out with some money or food. And then he said, “I come to you because you are white, and then you are a rich man.” I guess you could say he was making assumptions, but with the socioeconomic distribution here he is making a very safe assumption of at least decent financial comfort. And I think he also gathered that I was from the United States, which brings along some more assumptions about wealth and status. Talk about raising even more questions about my own identity and privilege. Geez. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, in regards to my wealth and racial privilege and language and a number of things, but being called out on it right to my face provides a bit of a jolt. He also said, on somewhat of a different note, “If you believe in God, you will help me out, Jeremy.” Now that is definitely a loaded statement. That could be the subject of books and conversations and public services for years, let alone the subject of one brief chat and a subsequent blog entry in the comforts of my dorm room. I didn’t really know how to respond to either of those things that he said so I just kind of kept listening. I gave him the few bucks I had on me and a cereal bar that I had in my pocket. We continued chatting for a little while about nice people, and rude people, and the nature of community. There was a little bit of language barrier for me trying to understand his English, but we both ran with it. Interesting people. Tough situations.
On a less personal, but nonetheless relevant political note, the president of the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) spoke on campus the other night as part of Human Rights Awareness Week on campus here at Rhodes. The PAC was originally a liberation movement organization that challenged apartheid throughout the second half of the 20th century. Check it out online, there’s some really interesting history there. Now the PAC is a minority political party. The president of the party had a very active role in the formation and action of the movement over the last several decades. He spoke of a number of criticisms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and called for much more practical and material healing, in addition to more spiritual healing out of the oppression and violence that persisted during apartheid. He noted that you can not legislate forgiveness, but you can in different ways legislate land redistribution, wealth redistribution, and the creation of housing and jobs. Social change always has to be PRACTICAL, in addition to SPIRITUAL. He also encouraged us to stand FOR freedom and justice, and not always just AGAINST oppression. A self-identified atheist after coming from a Christian background, he said that so often Christianity was used to subjugate his people and also that the liberation of women in South Africa and the world can not come from such a male-centered socio-religious structure like Christianity. That was kind of just informative and impersonal, but it’s food for thought and action, I suppose.
On a less personal, but nonetheless relevant political note, the president of the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) spoke on campus the other night as part of Human Rights Awareness Week on campus here at Rhodes. The PAC was originally a liberation movement organization that challenged apartheid throughout the second half of the 20th century. Check it out online, there’s some really interesting history there. Now the PAC is a minority political party. The president of the party had a very active role in the formation and action of the movement over the last several decades. He spoke of a number of criticisms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and called for much more practical and material healing, in addition to more spiritual healing out of the oppression and violence that persisted during apartheid. He noted that you can not legislate forgiveness, but you can in different ways legislate land redistribution, wealth redistribution, and the creation of housing and jobs. Social change always has to be PRACTICAL, in addition to SPIRITUAL. He also encouraged us to stand FOR freedom and justice, and not always just AGAINST oppression. A self-identified atheist after coming from a Christian background, he said that so often Christianity was used to subjugate his people and also that the liberation of women in South Africa and the world can not come from such a male-centered socio-religious structure like Christianity. That was kind of just informative and impersonal, but it’s food for thought and action, I suppose.
