LEWE NA APARTHEID: LIDMATE SE NARRATIEWE VANUIT 'N ...

Hoofstuk 4: Die verhaal oor apartheid – teenswoordige tyd
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the topic of racism. Maybe it has to do with guilt over what happened
under apartheid, or perhaps it is a genuine attempt at forgetting the
past. Yet it is difficult to forget the past when its legacies still loom very
large in our society. But the greater effects of our racist past can be
seen every day in the many townships where black people continue to
live the same miserable lives they lived under apartheid and where our
democratic government is building worse houses for poor people than
those built by the apartheid government (Fisher 2007:5).
4.3.4 Rassisme in remissie?
Dit sal waarskynlik nog baie lank wees voordat die meerderheid wit mense in Suid-
Afrika die woorde van Fisher (2007:1) sal kan eggo: “I believe that I am a racist
because my entire life I have been groomed to become one.” Die lys van twaalf bewyse
wat hy dan aanvoer vir hierdie stelling is ewe waar vir alle bevolkingsgroepe. Daar is
niemand wat onder apartheid grootgeword het, wat kan ontken dat hulle die merk van
daardie beleid dra nie. “I grew up in South Africa, where race and racism has
dominated our society for much of the last century and continues to dominate our
society today” (Fisher 2007:1). ʼn Paar bladsye verder gaan hy voort met sy
verduideliking oor waarom hy homself steeds as ʼn rassis beskou: “I grew up in the era
of apartheid and the stigma of that era will probably stay with me forever. To this day, I
still find myself having preconceived notions of Africans, whites, Indians or coloured
people, who form the major race groups in South Africa. It is because of this that I say
that I am a racist” (Fisher 2007:3).
Dit is belangrik om raak te sien dat Fisher nie hierdie verduideliking aanbied as ʼn
verskoning vir rassistiese optrede nie, maar bloot as ʼn erkenning van sy posisie. Hy is
geen passiewe slagoffer nie, maar erken bloot die effek wat apartheid op hom gehad
het en nog steeds het. Volgens Weingarten (2000) se patroon bevind hy homself in die
groen kwadrant: bewus en bemagtig.
Dit is in hierdie selfde lig dat Jonathan Jansen erken dat hy nie kan sê dat hy nie ʼn
rassis is nie:
I try every single day of my life to be generous, to be honest, to be
equitable, to live my life for all my fellow brothers and sisters, black and