Well I am British born but have lived in South Africa for most of my life. As a kid I arrived here the first time at around 6 then travelled the world some more and came back. So in my early impressions at age 6 I didn’t question nor understand oppression. Nor minority ruling power. As I got older and into my teens, I was angered and desperate about the whole white power scenario.
I felt helpless, most of my school mates, my family and network were racists. Of the worse kind. I am talking brutal slaying, bad language, inferred references toward black people. I got into more and more arguments with my own family and my own friends.
When I got older still I joined the Black Sash. Many of my friends were radical and many were locked up, or went missing. This was the black people that went missing not the white. They would turn up worse for wear. I cannot describe to you what a sick society this breeds. When we handed over government to Nelson Mandela it was a glorious time but also peppered with great sadness. I remember standing in the streets of the city, while planes flew over head and we all held hands together, black, white, coloured, Indian. Many of us have tried to build this nation together. I was studying Marxist theology and I mad that a black white issue. Today we still have racial issues as brought on by a bottleneck of hate generated from our past. But many of us stand firm in the belief that we can make it. Nelson Mandela is one famous person I would love to meet. For many reasons, hope and vision being some of them.