Reading the blog written by Gillian Schutte on Thoughtleader many thoughts came to my mind. As I was one of the first people to read the blog I wondered how the Whites which it was directed to would reply. Will they prove her right with irrational responses and anger with what she was saying or rationalise their responses and accept what Schutte was saying.
Just 10 minutes later the blog was flooded with responses. Most blacks thanked Schutte for talking about issues that when them “blacks” raise them are labelled racist. Some argued that what she was saying was old and is not good for national building.
Few whites thanked her, most attacked her of generalising, assuming and trying to get publicity or buying in to blacks.
I reserved my comments because I wanted to see how all this will turn out. Whites that the letter/blog was directed to did not like the Idea of a white woman selling them out to blacks like that and responded with irrational bashing comments.
We as South Africans, Black, White, Indian or whatever colour need to get over our "race". We need to acknowledge that a young democracy country like South Africa needs dialogues on racial issues.
For us to move forward, we need to talk about each other openly without the fear of being labelled a “racist” or a “sellout”. We need to stop censoring people and promote debates on issues that expose what we hide about ourselves so we can be able to look at each other and know where we are and what we can do together as a people.
For us to get into a position of a true Rainbow Nation we need to “heal” our wounds and stop pretending we have healed.
News24 comments won’t be a bad place to start when looking how far we South Africans have grown since 1994 on Race. To us, it’s always “US” and “THEM”. What “they” can’t do and what “we” can do better than “them”.
No South African owes another anything.
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