If you forget you are Black, whites will remind you

White people always strive to be an issue in Black lives despite the fact that through racism they have managed to make their lives a hundred-fold better than those of their Black counterparts. It is no secret that for Black people there still exists many accounts that remain unclosed accruing from apartheid. The only reason why they do not approve of us meeting on our own is they are afraid that we may just awaken each other to the reality that despite a ‘very democratic’ constitution and a political leadership that is not white by and large, for the majority of the people ‘it is not yet uhuru.’

How could it be when the majority of our people still live under such despicable conditions and circumstances, when they live in shacks, when our children are the ones learning under trees, when 80 percent of the land remains in the hands of 62 000 white institutions, families and interests? The list is endless. Would it not be deemed irresponsible of Black people, particularly the intelligentsia not to make time to talk amongst themselves about their peculiar situation which is not God-ordained? In the period when we are supposed to be in power Black people are even more powerless.

Racism has always been defined in relation to one using their ‘race’ to the detriment of others especially to gain economic advantages over them. Looking at South Africa today Blacks still remain so disadvantage that they lack the wherewithal to threaten or liquidate white advantage which is the norm. The institutions that the capitalist apartheid system put into place in order to cause Black disadvantage still hold sway. The willing-seller-willing-buyer principle in relation to land makes sure that the government of the day, the democratically elected government, can only build houses, even so of poor quality, in the locations and townships just like the apartheid regime did.

So many studies, undertaken independently show that more people, most particular Black people are worse off than they have ever been before even under the apartheid system, the very system that has put into place institutions and systems that continue to plague us today. Are Black people asking for too much when the demand space to seek particular solutions to their problems? Contrary to what other people may wish for, the truth is, the new dispensation has found it almost impossible to integrate the country and eliminate the peculiarity of Black problems. Is it not true that white people in their overwhelming majority live in decent habitable houses in suburbia? That is not true of Black people. Is it not true that the general living conditions of Blacks leave much to be desired?

The response of the white world to Black people is so predictable. During the dark days of apartheid whenever Black people met to address their situation, that of oppression, white people will send their foot soldiers to our meetings. On every issue we raised, their role was to ask a persistent question: ‘What about white people?’ This they will diligently do whether the issue under discussion is housing, education, transport or whatever in our view would be pertinent to Black people. The role of these people was to make sure that the presence of white people was pervasive even in their absence. It was often obvious to us that questions they were asking were not relevant to white living conditions but to them it represented their undying commitment to ‘democracy’. The truth is, this is the way white people make themselves a factor in Black lives.

The bill of rights and freedom of association should guarantee people to meet with whoever they want and in circumstances so preferred by them. What is unacceptable is if such a gathering or meeting is for the purposes of breaking the laws of the country. In this country relics of apartheid are allowed to flourish and even be visited by state presidents such as Orania. We have not heard anyone insisting that it must be integrated.

The real criminals of our society are those who continue to exclude others in order to extract from them economic gains. Daily, the rich work tirelessly to exclude the poor and the workers and even help to setup laws to their detriment. Society, that is capitalist society, rewards those who create poverty and blame the poor for the poverty. It will in no way help Black people to buy into the hype that they are classless and free because even the courts in this country still put great value on race. One just needs to check the ridiculously low bails and fines white people for killing Black people simply because their racist actions are not regarded as such.

If you have forgotten you are Black , whites will remind you that you are Black

* Mandlenkosi ka Phangwa is President of the Socialist Azanian Youth Revolutionary Organisation.