LEWE NA APARTHEID: LIDMATE SE NARRATIEWE VANUIT 'N ...

Hoofstuk 4: Die verhaal oor apartheid – teenswoordige tyd
p198
In my opvolggesprek met Hanlie vra ek pertinent die vraag: My vraag is of
individuele mense op ʼn punt al gekom het om te sê maar weet jy
dit wat ons gehad het was verkeerd. Ek kry so ʼn idée dat ouens
wil daardie stappie spring en sê man kom ons vergeet dit wat
verby is, kom ons gaan nou net aan [Albert 12-550]. Dis asof wit Afrikaners
die impak van die rassistiese bestel bloot wil wegwens. Wanneer ek met Frans praat,
praat ons oor rugby en spesifiek ook oor regstellende aksie in sport. Sy reaksie was:
Dit voel vir my ons behoort nou by dit verby te wees [Frans 9-676].
4.3.2 Die onvermydelike van ras
Hoeveel wit mense die impak van rassisme ook al wil wegwens, kan dit nie gebeur nie.
Suid-Afrika het ʼn geskiedenis hieroor wat nie vanself sal weggaan nie. Vanuit ʼn
Amerikaanse konteks skryf Nathan McCall, ʼn swart Amerikaner, oor sy eie onvermoë
om weg te kom van ras:
I told Danny I did not have a choice in the matter. "You can sit around
and intellectualize about race when you want to, and when you get tired
of it you can set it aside and go surfing or hang-gliding and forget about
it. But I can't. Race affects every facet of my life, man. I can't get past
race because white folks won't let me get past it. They remind me of it
everywhere I go. Every time I step into an elevator and a white woman
bunches up in the corner like she thinks I wanna rape her, I'm forced to
think about it. Every time I walk into the stores, the suspicious looks in
white shopkeepers' eyes make me think about it. Every time I walk past
whites sitting in their cars, I hear the door locks clicking and I think about
it. I can't get away from it, man. I stay so mad all the time because I am
forced to spend so much time and energy reacting to race. I hate it. It
wearies me. But there is no escape, man. No escape (McCall
1994:346).
Die Stellenbosse teoloog Nico Koopman werk met ʼn bruikbare definisie van rassisme
wat ʼn goeie samevatting van die konsepte van mag en menswaardigheid bied. Hy haal
die Nederlandse geleerdes Opschoor en Witvliet hieroor aan: Rassisme is “...the
specific ideology that organises and regulates the exploitation and dependence of a