Call a racist a racist

It has been interesting to see how the media have been pussy-footing around whether the killings in Skielik informal settlement in Swartruggens in North West province earlier this week were racially motivated.

An 18-year-old white man, Johan Nel, has been arrested on charges of murdering three people in a shooting spree that has left many people shocked. The dead are a baby, a 10-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man. Several other people are still in a critical condition in hospital.

I have noticed how some of the media referred to the incident as “an apparently racist attack”.
Part of the reason for this could be the fear among white farmers (Nel was the son of a white farmer) that labelling the attack “racist” would lead to revenge attacks on said farmers.

They have a point, but that does not mean that a racist should not be called a racist.

It is shocking when one considers that Nel was only four or five years old when South Africa became a democracy, so he had to learn his racism from somewhere. He was too young to be tainted directly by apartheid and its heinous policies.

No person is born a racist, and we are turned into racists by our parents, our neighbours, our peers and so forth. Nel was probably not different in that way. So, to some extent the community in which he grew up must take responsibility for his actions.

Yet that does not mean that there must now be attacks on that community. Recriminations often only serve to worsen matters.

But here’s the point: the fact that one white man went on an apparent shooting spree in a black township does not mean that all white people hate all black people and want to do them harm.

South Africa’s system of apartheid did not automatically mean that all white people were oppressing all black people. Yes, the majority of white people were probably oppressing black people, but there were exceptions to the rule. There were many white people who opposed apartheid as much as, if not more than, many black people.

You cannot judge an entire community based on the actions of one person.

In the same way you cannot say that all black people are criminals just because most of the criminals in South Africa happen to be black.

There are good white people in the same way as there are good black people. And there are bad white people in the same way as there are bad black people.

Admitting to one’s racism is a good way to start dealing with the issue of racism. In my book, Race, I deal with this issue at length.

So let’s admit that Nel was motivated by racism and then try to understand why it is that he did what he is accused of doing. Maybe by understanding his motivation we will be able to prevent it happening again.

This is a more helpful approach and much better than trying to hide behind terms such as “an apparently racist attack”.