The Pavement Bookworm (Part 1)

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The Issue at Hand.

The Issue at Hand … Is less about race than it is about the economic and political system that rules currently.  I’m speaking here about capitalism.  Kindly note that I’m purposefully writing from the top of my head, I want to speak as a layperson, with no references to reports, academic writings or history books.  It is true that I have been blessed with a better education than “the average South African” – whatever that means - so my reference to “lay” might be somewhat misleading.  You will agree however, that a formal education is but a speck in the endless tapestry that is education.  So perhaps my claim of an unqualified opinion is not so far fetched.

APS-Fa-11-My Words to My People- Shamette Franklin

BAD FEELINGS.

I’ve been hearing a lot about this phenomenon called white guilt lately, in various discussions and debating forums, in newspaper opinion pieces, etcetera.  My understanding of what this guilt should be is in a document known as the “guilt-list”. 

In 2000 Carl Niehaus and Mary Burton suggested that white South Africans apologise collectively to Africans for the wretchedness that was apartheid.  Part of the document reads,

“We acknowledge the white community's responsibility for apartheid since many of us actively and passively supported that system. Some white people were deeply involved in the struggle against apartheid but they were very few in number. We acknowledge our debt to fellow black South Africans since all whites benefited from systematic racial discrimination. We therefore believe that it is right and necessary to commit ourselves to redressing these wrongs.”