America's South Africa Lesson

South Africa, the once ultimate example of racial injustice, may have something to teach us about resolving the systemic racism in the United States. I was in South Africa (SA) in 2017 and saw how a country which could easily have tipped into a race war, decided to step back, and take another direction.

I am not black. Before going to South Africa, I knew little about it. I was there to work on emerging cyber hate and online abuse issues.  I came away with an immense respect for a beautiful country with amazing people who have accomplished something the United States has yet to achieve…creating a framework for interracial relations, airing grievances, and working towards solutions on deep-seated problems. This is not to say South Africa found the magic wand to all their problems, but they certainly have done something impressive.

The argument is often made that current populations should not be held responsible or pay the price for long standing problems. As it is very hard to hold the original instigators of a century old problem responsible, and it is the ultimate injustice to hold  unempowered victims of ongoing repression and racism responsible for their own situation, the only answer is for current society, as a whole, to be responsible for addressing inequity.

Many white South Africans may have lived within the apartheid system, but not many currently alive created the system. Similarly, no living Americans were slave owners, but many lived and accepted segregation in various forms. But there is no question that the legacy of the systems and laws put in place long ago are still a significant problem for populations of color around the world. As these disadvantaged, marginalized communities represent a significant percentage of the population, their suffering and frustration is unarguably impacting the larger society. In this way, bigotry, racism, tacit bias, amarginalizationnd  are more than just a black, immigrant or minority issue. It compromises society’s morality.

Looking back at history and pointing fingers at the players, policies, and political sources of racial issues provide context, but not always solutions. The context is important to help see the actions which allowed racism to become systematized and the way it is manifested today. The trap is not moving the conversations into the present. History cannot be changed but the future can be.

20+ years ago the vast majority of South Africa stood together to say, “this has to stop.” There was no question that it was going to be difficult, painful, costly, and dangerous. There was also no question that pointing at the past and saying, “I wasn’t there, it’s not my fault” was not deemed a reason for inaction by anyone. Everyone needed to participate.

The system that evolved with the leadership and inspiration of Nelson Mandela is, what I would call, a forum of obligation. Groups, councils, commissions and organization which were formed, abided by one overriding rule, if you join, you are included, your input will be taken, your voice will be heard in full, but you are required to sit and give that full consideration to everyone else who is included. No matter what. If you disrupt others, deny them their privilege to speak and be heard or storm out of the proceedings, you lose your seat at the table. This was my understanding and what I witnessed.

I attended meetings of various commissions and government bodies which were brutally frank in a way that no American legislative or policy body would ever withstand or tolerate.

Current generations taking responsibility for the past, empowers and enables them to have the hard conversations about the ongoing legacies of the past. This is what South Africa has done. Something the United States has not. In the U.S. reconstruction never finished the job of achieving equality, it was simply abandoned. The Civil Rights Movement moved the needle just enough to assuage people on both sides without ever making the fundamental, foundational, irreversible changes in society that were needed.  The hardest problems were just passed to the next generation.

Speaking the unspoken, the unspeakable, was a big part of the break from the monarchy and the establishment of the United States. Now we find ourselves in a position where tolerance, civility and “don’t rock the boat” culture has enabled the marginalization and abuse of many groups in our society. All of it wrong. All of it transgenerational.

South Africa showed us where to start. The U.S. can stop passing its bad racial and sociological legacies on to the next generation.  We can have the hard conversations. We can better understand each other’s pain and make the most difficult changes. We need to start by making a commitment as a nation and a people that racism and systemic bias against any group of people in our country or by our country damages and diminishes what we have, what we want and what we leave our children.