Anele KholekileWe live in a world with people who believe they can be superior compared to other humans, treating them as being unfit for being humans which is called racism.
Racism is deep it is more than just personal hatred for somebody, it is a complex problem and never tolerable. I believe that the only thing as humans we should separate by colour is clothing, because it is something made by a person to be a certain colour. If and only if then everyone had decided on their skin colour we would be also able to judge a person because of their skin colour.
There many stories about how it all started. Firstly racism is one of many expressions of our evolved capacity to live and work in groups. The human tendency to identify with an “us” defines the broader “them”. One of the stories of how racism started is that the struggle was for supremacy over gold mines in the the world and the need to establish a state in the Transvaal that would fulfil the demands of the deep level mine owners.
If we lived in a world free of racism, instead of fighting over lands we would be coming together as natives, discussing ways of how the available lands can be used for something productive. For example, agriculture, in this way we can overcome poverty. So that neither blank skinned or white skinned human would suffer from starvation. These lands could be used for farming. It can be commercial farming which will create job opportunities, subsistence farming which will feed majority of people.
Racism has become a huge part of our lives in such a way that to us black people it is normal to come across a wretched black human yet it is never normal to come across a wretched white human. The way we have been indulgent to racism we no longer have the conscience that it lives within us.
Our countries have immigrants who try to make a better sustenance for themselves. They leave their families, others temporarily and others permanently. The same immigrants we have end up owning very successful businesses instead of realizing that we are not doing anything productive country wise, we are the same people who wrack down everything these people people have worked hard for, which took place in the last few years called Xenophobia. Why exactly do we do this? Because these are the people that create job opportunities for people who do not get hired.
It may be too late for us to be taught that skin colour does not meliorate any race but it’s not too late to teach our children that there is no favouritism in this world, just as our father Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”.
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements and policies which are adopted or developed in order to oppose racism, in which people are not are not discriminated against on the basis of race. Civil right movement is an example of anti-racist movements. A South Africa free of racism requires change in mindset, ability to think, to understand the dignity of all people and commitment to equality in pursuit of a better life for all.
The minister of arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa once said that “We need to de-educate people from their myths and re-educate them”. Our future requires a country whereby everyone is free and truly equal with no prejudice.
It has become obvious to most South Africans that racism remains a key challenge to our democracy. As such as a society we owe it to ourselves to engage with this issue with truthfulness. To overcome racism it is our responsibility to strive towards reconciliation, transformation and nationhood.
It may be believed that Christians used the bible to to justify racism but truth is, the bible teaches us that there is only one human race and that we all descended from Adam. The bible clarifies very much that wild animals, livestock all creatures that move along the ground were made according to their kinds. But when it came to humans, God only created male and female but not according to their kinds. Therefore there is one human race. “If we want to root out racism, we must root out the world view that there are different races”. The moment we accept that there are different races within humanity, is the exact moment one accepts the possibility that one is superior and another inferior. Why don’t we realise that the more we get used to this false concept of race is the more we feed racism itself.
This racist mindset is being passed down from generation to generation in our society so let us secure the future of our children so that they will know how it is to live in a, less violent society, a world with high rate of employment opportunities, less favouritism and lots of love. God created every one of us in our own beautiful skin colours he placed us all on the very same earth so if he wanted our skins to differentiate us I think we wouldn’t be all living on the same planet.
And a healthy planet involves love. If our world could be set free from racism we would be one rainbow nation. Black, white, Indian, coloured people would all work together, creating more innovative ideas. Because there’ll be no humans being inferior as to others. We would all be about uplifting one another to a better standard of life instead of judging and criticizing one another.
No it’s not enough not to be racist, it’s important being opposed to racism. From one man God made all the nations that they should inhibit the whole earth.
