"I tell you who benefited from apartheid, it was blacks," wrote Facebook user Margarita Barnard. "I wish blacks would give whites apartheid. And I will tell you why I say this. Whites came to a country where there was nothing, just some black tribes living in mud huts killing each other. No roads no infrastructure no South Africa even. Blacks were always dying from famines when there were droughts, from tsetse fly [sleeping sickness], from yellow fever, malaria, name it they died in droves."
This is only one of many comments made in regards to a t-shirt that was made by a write and film-maker named Roger Young. I'm a little confused as to his motivation - my brain is just not able to wrap around the explanation in the article - but he gave away 30 for free to whites only, and then he made more which he sold not for profit.
Frankly, I'm just flabbergasted by the responses people are making towards the t-shirt. It's all about who colonialism, and ultimately apartheid, benefited: some say the Africans because they became more "civilized" and some say the whites because they are still paid more and have more access to jobs.
I would really like to hear your opinions on this, especially the motivation behind making the t-shirts since I was a little unclear on this. Who do you think benefited the most and why?
So, an antonym of benefit is harmed. I don't believe any whites during apartheid were harmed like the Africans were. Whites were the beneficiaries, and Africans were the ones oppressed. Of course, the Africans learned english and earned educations, but that had started prior to apartheid. It would be ridiculous to say that when Apartheid started Africans began to benefit. Apartheid itself was not anywhere near a benefit, in any form, to Africans. For people like Margarita to say such things, not only shows their flat out racism, it also shows how ignorant and simple minded they can be. Africans never asked for or wanted the immigrants there in the first place, so no need for them to pat themselves on the back for forcing themselves and their beliefs on Africans.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the "I benefited from Apartheid" shirts insinuate "We harmed Africans." Whether the shirt was intended to insult African or make whites appear humble, it is crude and unnecessary.
It is still very sad to think that people in this age that are so hell bent on finding equal rights for a culture that has been the majority for most of the millenia. I symapthize for what the idea is, but I do think they're off their rocker if they think they have suffered more than the native people of Africa.
DeleteWhy should it matter if there were no roads, and that they lived in mud huts? It's what they knew and it was their way of life that helped them progress. I am quite shocked that someone would have said those things, especially in a day and age where the majority is looking more and more like the minority.