“Everything is about Racism”
http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=31431
I’ve always had a great affinity for South Africa and its history. I feel that its similar to America in many ways. But it’s also different in many ways. Sometimes its too tempting to draw parallels.
Since I don’t know that much about South Africa, I will give Mr. Manyi the benefit of the doubt and assume he is right that everything in South Africa is ultimately seen through the filter of racism.
Is that true of the United States? I often feel that way. But, I worry that I am biased by my experiences — that I’ve been hurt too many times, and I’ve become cynical. To a man with a hammer, as they say, everything looks like a nail.
President Obama’s election was world-altering for me, and not just for the ways that people usually articulate. On top of being moved that we had finally elected a Black man as president, I was also humbled by my lack of faith in us as a culture. I had expressed early on that we weren’t ready for a Black president, and that if we did elect one, he wouldn’t have a weird name. I had also expressed that if he were elected, he’d be assassinated in short time. I didn’t take my son to the rally here in Chicago after he won, because I was worried about bombs. I was too obsessed with racism in this country to see what was possible. And so now, I often doubt myself when it comes to seeing racism everywhere. It certainly still exists, but maybe it’s not as universal as we sometimes make it out to be.