Someone needs to tell the self-appointed ‘thought police’ to stop their fascist behaviour.

Nobody has the authority to dictate to other people what to think or how to behave because of similarity of skin colour.

In fact, it would be a good idea for thought police to go on a holiday in Europe or Asia every year. Perhaps this would help them shed the unnecessary burden of being custodians of fleeting identity.

There are still some thought police who have become addicted to the imaginary power of what they define as true identity, be it so–called black or white. This is the perhaps the worst ideological drug that anyone can be addicted to. Unfortunately, it is being force-fed to other people who are ready and willing to leave the baggage behind.

Who gives the thought police the right to decide who is black, for instance, and who is not?

Nobody!

It is a good thing that, now, we have a growing number of normal people who, of course, come from abnormal backgrounds but want to forget the past. It is dead and gone.

These progressive and self-determining people do not want to fight with self-appointed custodians of identity. In fact, they want to have nothing to do with thought police and other types of die-hards.

It is time that thought police move back into their freak fringe that wants to deny that identity based on skin colour or any other such attribute is an illusion. This is what will stunt our growth and development as individual people.

But of course, in an era of freedom of association and freedom of expression which is guarded by constitutional democracy, the die-hard thought police also have a right to exist.

It is unfortunate that they go on as if apartheid is still alive and kicking. Not that it is dead. But it is dead though not fully, of course.

But if die–hard thought police want to be part of change and transformation, they will have to change their thinking that determines their attitude and conduct. If they don’t, they will marginalised and be regarded as political freaks.

Of course, it is bad for people to carry 1948 attitudes in 2008.

This part of the world, at least, is hungry for people who are what Mahatma Gandhi called “agents of the change they want to see.” They will be the positive force and energy that will turn this country into a new world.

It is not that die–hard thought police have rotten brains. It is just that they are incapable of conceiving anything new. They are so blind that they cannot see that South Africa has, truly, crossed the Rubicon.

Unfortunately, their presence is harmful and poisonous to the new society that Nelson Mandela has laid a foundation for.

But, hey, if they have decided to die, then we should let the die–hards die in silence and peace. Nobody should disturb them. Who misses Eugene Terblanche, for instance?

This country does not need peace time revolutionaries. We should all relax and take things easy. The only possible route for us to follow is to let the new society take shape like a yet–to–be-born baby in the womb.

Of course, there are things that the thought police think they should do like going around trying to correct the thinking and political attitudes of other people. These thought police think it is okay for them to tell others what to think and how to see the world.

They will not allow a black and white to have a love affair, for instance, because they see this as betrayal of the ‘race.’

Well, the best contribution that the thought police can make is changing themselves. But they want to change the whole world instead. Well, they can’t!
Unfortunately, it is increasingly difficult for a truly free society to shape up because it is being suppressed by the thought police.

Perhaps the time has now come for the thought police to pull back and realize that they cannot win this war. Most people want to get on with the business of building a new society.

This is what they have put their mind, heart and soul to.

Do not be distracted by recent events like the Skielik shootings, the brutal killing of black men by white youths, the rise of the discriminatory FBJ and the recent Orange Free State campus ‘racist’ events.

Of course, these events bring embarrassment, hurt and shame to normal and sane people. In fact, we should be very proud of the number of people who have come out in utter condemnation of these attitudes, both black and white!

Yes, there are more black and white people who are united in their blanket condemnation of thought police than those who want to justify and defend the attitudes and behaviour.

But the focus will always fall on the thought police because the negative is always sensational and captures the news headlines.

The die–hard thought police always want to draw a boundary that is based on skin colour. In the black community they say, “We are black brothers and our skin colour should always make us rally together. Our skin colour is the cause of our oppression and exploitation everywhere we go.”

The same is projected by their white counterparts: “We are one nation. If your people need you, you must be willing to not only join up with them but sacrifice on their behalf. We must stand together.”

Black fascism or white nationalism … it is the same idea that threatens nation–building or makes it difficult for people to judge each other on the basis of their character and not skin colour.

So, conservative thought police are the root cause. They are delaying the birth of the beautiful ones who are being born every moment of every day in our beautiful country.

Unfortunately, the thought police have conditioned many to believe that skin colour should determine the attitudes and behaviour of most people in our society. From the very beginning, people are conditioned to think of themselves as black, Coloured, Indian or white.

Difficult as it is, this must come to a stop, now.

Each individual must make a pledge to be an agent of the change towards non–racialism. The year 2014, which is the end of the Second Decade of Freedom, must truly see this country radically transformed in terms of racial relations. It is the best gift that can be given to Nelson Mandela’s ANC for its 102nd birthday present.
As Martin Luther King said, “It is either we live as brothers and sisters or perish as fools.”

It is our choice not to give thought police credibility.

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Sandile Memela

Sandile Memela

Sandile Memela is a journalist, writer, cultural critic, columnist and civil servant. He lives in Midrand.

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