The more the ANC spins out of control and the more government proves that corruption and inefficiency are rife, the more white reactionaries will think they have a licence to be racist.
I have consistently believed and said over the past number of years that I thought we were making steady progress eliminating racial prejudice and advancing social cohesion. I still do.
That we're often very impatient with the process and react very strongly when we do see racism, means that we have made significant progress and expect more of ourselves as a nation.
No, you would be wrong to say I don't know about racism, because I am a white Afrikaner male and only victims of racism can tell. I have news for you, my dear black friends. Because I'm white, because I'm Afrikaans and because I'm male; racists, even mild ones, show their prejudices to me long before they would actually act on them in the company of a black person.
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Your white colleague across the office won't tell a racist joke to you, but he'll tell it to me. You don't ever hear the dreaded k-word any more, do you? Well, I do, because prejudiced white people think all white people are like them.
Racist whites have a reason why they think other whites are also racist: because non-racists don't make a stand, don't create a stink, don't confront, don't make it clear that racism is revolting, dangerous and socially unacceptable.
They avoid a scene, perhaps walk away or put on a fake smile and excuse themselves, but they rarely say hey, you're a racist pig and I'm not so shut the hell up.
That is why the racist thugs who abused the woman at last Saturday's rugby Test did what they did, and knew they would probably get away with it. They knew white people are generally scared of making a scene when confronted with racism.
In my book, if you tolerate racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, anti-Islamism (if there is such a word), homophobia or any other prejudice against fellow human beings, you are as bad as the bigot himself. And you're a coward on top of it.
This, by the way, is not purely a "white thing". In terms of anti-black racism, it also goes for Indian and coloured society, and don't let anyone fool you with the argument that black people can't be racists - the xenophobic attacks are but one manifestation.
Still, I think racism among white South Africans is still the most dangerous because of where we come from - and I can write about white racism with more conviction, because I understand the white ethnic codes better.
I think we're more aware of white racism now because people who wouldn't dream of uttering racist remarks ten years ago would now do it without thinking twice.
Ironically, this is partly because we have "normalised" so successfully, but it is also, as I said above, because some people think the banana republic-type behaviour of elements of the ANC, and the more spectacular failures of the government, make it right to be rude to black people in general.
This is not unlike English-speaking so-called liberals during the old days making disparaging remarks about "those bloody Boers", because their party and government were really screwing things up.
Just as the tendency two decades ago was to look at Eugene TerreBlanche and his clowns and thugs of the AWB, and say that's what all Afrikaners are like, so many white South Africans look at Julius Malema or the wild Cosas kids or Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and say, look at these damn blacks, they're not fit to rule this country.
I suppose it is an understandable human reaction to be more protective of one's own group or race and more critical of "others", but intelligent people should be able to understand their own behaviour patterns.
It struck me when the Waterkloof Four eventually went to jail how many whites said and wrote that they didn't condone what these youngsters did, but felt sorry for them and their parents.
These very same people are the ones who become hot under the collar and demand that farm murderers be hanged in public.
But it also struck me how many black people protest angrily and even threaten retaliation when a white man is accused of killing a black man, but they don't seem to care too much when blacks kill whites.
These are the reasons why we need to start taking a hard line on all forms of racism. The next time you see or hear racism, do yourself and your country a favour and confront it. Distance yourself from it in public. Denounce it loudly and clearly. If your friend is racist, tell him to stop or end the friendship.
And if you know who the men were who abused that woman at the rugby Test at Coca Cola Park, please come forward and identify them. They must pay. They deserve to be humiliated.
- This article was originally published on page 12 of The Star on September 04, 2008
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