Callous 'black diamonds' and the poor white problem

It is time that we asked the question whether the non-racial struggle has, ironically, delivered its anti-thesis of black racism.

In a strange way, there is an unconscious disposition among privileged black Africans — now called the “black diamonds” — to be unkind in a racist way towards fellow South Africans who happen to be white.

Over the past 13 years, I have sought out the reason why some black people behave in this racist manner towards whites.

Look, I understand the whole argument about blacks not being capable of racism simply because they have neither the economic resources nor the power to oppress others. Frankly, it is sentimental clap-trap. One is racist when one makes distinctions between human beings because of what Kwame Anthony Appiah in his book Cosmopolitanism calls “visible morphological traits” such as skin colour, hair texture, eye colour or even voice accent.

Maybe I am over-simplifying things, but I am not particularly interested in getting entangled in the definition of racism at the moment.

I am raising this issue because I have witnessed black inhumane behaviour towards white beggars, for instance, in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and East London simply because they are white. I think black racism is at the essence of a refusal to offer a white beggar R2 or Nando’s left-overs. Not many people will agree with this view, especially so-called radical pan-Africanist and black consciousness exponents whose mangled ideology is very technical and complex.

The refusal to offer any kind of help to a person because of skin colour must be one of the most dangerous developments in our evolving non-racial society. As far as I am concerned, there is no moral or intellectual justification for depriving someone the milk of human kindness simply because he or she was born white. This attitude is grounded in the perception that all whites were supporters and beneficiaries of apartheid. But this is not true. The white poor are human beings who, for whatever reason, have fallen by the wayside of an inherently exploitative and manipulative economic system. Believe it or not, there are underpaid white nannies, messengers and gardeners, for instance, who are cannon fodder for the rich.

There is this presupposition among some blacks that the white poor deserve what they are getting. “Where were they were their fathers and brothers were helping themselves to Africa’s wealth and land?” they charge. It is this reasoning that is the basis for black indifference to white human suffering and the source of a great deal of moral error among people who are supposed to have based their struggle on the ideal of non-racialism.

There is an urgent need for us to take a stand against people who make moral distinctions between people because of the colour of their skin.

Of course, after the release of Nelson Mandela from jail, there were some whites who were brutal and callous towards blacks, dismissing them unfairly from work and telling them to “go to Mandela for your food and shelter”. These blatant racists thought and felt that black poor warranted such inhuman treatment simply because of their skin colour, which made them sub-human.

It was outrageous, inhuman behaviour.

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves of some of Mandela’s words when he went to prison 33 years ago. To paraphrase him, “I have fought against white racism. If need be I will fight against black racism.”

For me, this is enough evidence that there is no moral justification for treating people differently. After all, when a child is born into this world, it is not aware of its skin colour.

Mandela and the Constitution of this country is the only evidence we need not only to discourage racist behaviour but to condemn it, too, as not being part of our nation in the making.

Just like the white poor, not all blacks are reaping the juicy fruits of freedom and democracy. So, there is no reason for the lucky few to distinguish between the white poor and the black poor because their needs will always be the same.

Of course, this is not going to change racist attitudes substantially. For some people, the interests of the black African poor will always come first. But at this point, we need to remind ourselves that we live in a non-racial society. The poor — black and white — need not always be with us.

It does not take a rare black to help a rare white. We are all Africans. If we are indifferent towards the poor, we lose the essence of what we are destined to offer capitalism — a more human face of non-racialism.

We cannot build a non-racial society if we continue to look at each other in terms of black and white.