REDBEARD
TUESDAY 16 JUNE 2020
EVERY SINGLE LIFE MATTERS
CAPE TOWN – What colour are you? Are you
white or black? What about a tint of yellow or even
yet, do you have some pink in there, hidden among
the freckles, like me?
Come to think of it, I have never actually seen a
white person, I mean, a truly white person. I’ve
seen some very light-skinned people, particularly
in the mirror when I brush my teeth and I’ve seen
some very dark-skinned people, especially of the
northern African nations and tribes, but I’ve
literally never seen a truly black or white person.
Lines, apparently, have been drawn on this issue.
Political parties and figures are standing and falling
by these definitions, probably, more than ever.
People are literally dying because of this
overwhelmingly political stance.
The past couple of weeks in the USA have
especially been divisive after the death of George
Floyd. He seems to have become some kind of
martyr-figure for a large group of anarchists.
However, let me not digress. One would think that
after thousands of years of social interaction
between the so-called most intelligent species on
planet earth, we would have started figuring out
what is truly important to make civilisation work.
Clearly, we haven’t.
Even in the beautiful, rainbow-nation of South
Africa, where the long-forgotten dream of a non-
racial society by so many well-intentioned leaders
is but a mist disappearing before the rising sun of
our divisive political leaders, who, let’s be honest,
have but one aim; lining their pockets – a story for
another day.
To be brutally honest, there is some part of me that
understand division. Whether you accept it or not,
division is part of our every-day lives. That’s why
we have barriers, fences and walls. These structures
literally provide structure to our lives, both
individually and collectively.
In your homes, you have walls to divide your
sleeping quarters. In you workplace people are
divided into different working sections in order to
make the system be effective. Even on the sport
fields, we are divided, it’s as natural as life itself.
Divisions are everywhere, so, why the big uproar
over colour?
The answer is probably much more complex than
the question. But, part of the answer, I believe, lies
in the fact that the current colour narrative has at its
core the very people who supposedly opposes
division. In almost all public uproars pertaining to
colour, it’s the very people who are complaining
about division, who are causing it. Case in point is
the current Seattle situation where the anarchists
have taken over six blocks of the city and driven
out police and have erected ‘border walls’ to
control who enters and leaves their autonomous
zone, CHAZ.
These groups have as their end-goal to destroy, hurt
and take from those they deem to be in the wrong.
The brutal physical attacks, looting and murders is
what differentiates these groups and their ideals
from divisions which makes our every-day society
functions effectively.
If we truly need to divide, perhaps the measuring
stick should be different. Rather than your
pigments, let’s use character, loyalty, kindness
toward fellow humans, forgiveness and helping one
another up instead of treading others deeper into
the suffocating mud.
Peace