Apart from the ravages of apartheid haunting us, yes, we’re okay

Ryland Fisher is chief executive of Ikusasa Lethu Media. Follow him on Twitter: @rylandfisher

Ryland Fisher is chief executive of Ikusasa Lethu Media. Follow him on Twitter: @rylandfisher

Published Oct 27, 2019

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I wake up some mornings, and I feel tired (and sometimes angry). I realise that the things that make me tired are not physical, but mainly psychological and, in some way, related to the history of this country.

I feel tired because I’m sick of white people asking every time when black people are going to stop blaming racism and apartheid for many of the ills in our country. They will never understand our pain and our anger, I think, and I feel even more tired and angry.

I feel tired when I think of how, even as a reasonably accomplished individual, I have to convince mainly white South Africans I’m competent.

I feel tired when I think back to the time I was appointed as editor of the Cape Times, and the media reported that I was young, conjuring up all the bad attributes that they associate with being young: inexperienced, impulsive, etc. White editors, who were younger than me, were not described as young, but as whiz kids and other words celebrating excellence.

I get tired when I read stories like the one about the black family who was asked to leave a Camps Bay house they rented for a holiday, only because they are black.

I get tired when I visit the townships, and I see how apartheid still shows its sniggering face amid all the poverty. I get tired when I see politicians campaigning for our support using race as their campaign platform.

But whenever I feel tired, I turn to the youth for solutions and hope. As I listened to the Linge Primary School choir at a Partners for Possibility function last week - in one song, they recited words from the Constitution of South Africa - I felt less tired. In fact, I felt rejuvenated.

Douglas Gibson, I think it is time for white people in South Africa to stop questioning why we continue to talk about apartheid and to accept that the hurt caused by apartheid will be with us for a long time.

* Ryland Fisher is chief executive of Ikusasa Lethu Media. Follow him on Twitter:

@rylandfisher

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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