'Racism must be Nationalized' (Thoughts of a Radical Being)

 ---“I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color”---Malcolm X 

Nationalize: verb (used with object)

1. To bring under the ownership or control of a nation, as industries and land
2. To make into a nation
3. To naturalize

I am happy. Not because two privileged and intoxicated Afrikaaner boys went on a hate crime binge that ended with one Damane Muzi Gwebu, a black student at the University of the Free State being at the receiving end of their atrocious activity. This is not what has made me happy, in fact this has birthed a brand new kind of anger in me, it has inspired once more, the radical part of me, this incident has me wanting to find Juluis Malema so that we can chant apartheid tunes together that are now deemed as hate crime and can’t be sung anymore. What took place at the UOFS campus this week has me wishing that we could revert back to the teachings of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz who once said that “Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery”. I am not saying this must happen, I am saying the events of this week has the radical in me wishing back times when freedom would be fought for, by any means necessary!!

I am happy because this turn of events has again taken the South African and more particularly UOFS fraternity ten steps back. This is a racially charged institution that still heavily battles with demons of its past and now once more these demons have awakened to prove a point- that nothing is ever resolved by blatantly denying it and sweeping it under an already over-flowing rug as soon as it occurs.  I am happy because the trampled-on dignity of Damane shall be used as an example (unfairly so too) to uphold that racism is still very much alive, it is just well concealed in very many cases. I am happy that this episode has sent an uproar, especially amongst the youth and has shown their lack of tolerance when it comes to such. I am happy that the UOFS SRC has defied the university’s management and voiced their outrage when instead the wish was that they keep it on the hush-hush. I am happy that much of the narrative behind this incident is driven by the youth, I am happy that they feel some kind of way about it and more so that they have taken a united stand in peacefully fighting away such troubles.  I am ecstatic for people are fuming instead of hiding behind transparent curtains of pseudo-rationale as has been done by Prof. Jansen. I am glad that unlike him, everyone else calls this spade, a spade and they have opted to “assume” that it is a racist attack when he has told them not to jump to [race card] conclusions.

I am only glad that some form of dialogue has been unbolted and that blacks can bask in this glorious moment of anger. Rightful and justified anger.  I am almost as happy as a clam that blacks and whites alike have flooded twitter under various hashtags stating that racism must be dealt with beyond just text and theory.

 "Denying that there is a serious racism problem in our universities will not achieve transformation [1]. Instead, what needs to happen, first, the acknowledgement that these problems are present [2]" @YouthLabZA 

"If we are going to truly challenege racism we need to reflect on the way systematic injustices manifest...[1] In order to challenge racism we need to engage the trauma of our past... [2]I feel quite strongly about the two young white men being prosecuted, but this will not undo racism[3]" - @coconutBOY101

I am glad that although it has been a rude awakening, those that have believed that racism is of the past have opened up to the reality.

The radical in me wants to gather everyone together and suggest that racism be nationalized and by this I simply mean that it be acknowledged and recognized as a mental sickness that must and should be dealt with. I propose that right-wingers confined to anger and bitterness of a history that is plagued by racial inequality and impurities disclose their discomfort with the black race. My radical standpoint believes that when we talk about issues, we work towards healing them, when we open about our anger and our hatred to certain things, we allow for them to leave our conscious state and into the open. When we talk about how we feel, we open up lenient methods of confrontation, when we encourage honesty and frankness in our societies, then we get closer to the root of the problem. But when we suppress social injustices by choosing not to talk about them, we create lead ways to them becoming taboos. I wish for a society that openly communicates their thoughts and feelings in a constructive manner, regardless of the seeming offensiveness of their proclamations. 

This backward form of progression is the brainchild of a radical being. It is not to suggest that those who actually are racist go blurting it out or expressing it through harmful means, it is merely to recommend a communicative nation, especially where the dynamics of race are involved. It is to start by first acknowledging the anger that many still harbor and then talking it through in an attempt to heal from it.

Until next post,

Afrika rising, Peace & Revolution....