Derek Hendrikz
Human Diversity – is this still a Black / White issue?
I've been involved with South African diversity training & consultation for more than a decade now. In most diversity workshops we deal with many aspects such as race, gender, social class, disability, etc, etc.
Yet, the hottest issue within South Africa still seems to be the tension between black and white! It just seems impossible to cool down this hot potato. What needs to happen for Black and White to co-exist peacefully? White people are leaving South Africa by their thousands - their reason being 'high crime'. Yet, I've interviewed many of these ‘leaving’ citizens, and it seems (to me at least) that their real motivation is resistance towards affirmative action and black empowerment.
Black people on the other hand are struggling to move beyond the apartheid era and after 19-years of democracy still blames white people for poor living conditions within the country. Our whole economic development seems to be based on 'how white I am or how black you are!'
What needs to happen here?
Copyright
© 2013 Derek Hendrikz
Comments
Hi Mr. Derek! yes the truth about people in this country is that it is about white and black. whites are running away, they seem to rather draw themselves away from the coming economic downfall of South Africa. While the black people seem to always blame the reason of the present downfall on the Apartheid government 20 years ago. The truth is both these parties are wrong, they both keep blaming each other for the downfall of this country. It will take another 200 years of progress before a major change takes place in the thinking paradigms of black and white in this country. I am sorry to say but its still a long, long time for whites and blacks to live in perfect harmony with each other. To advance to the next level is only through a new type or level of educational system, to take away the old and to build on a more positive future. Parents should not be allowed to promote hate speech towards their children by telling them that whites must hate blacks and blacks must hate whites. The fact or truth of the matter is that it is still a reality in this country. this country is not a democratic republic, it only hides behind the name democracy. Hard words but true, there is no such thing as equal rights in this republic of ours. BEE is anti democracy, affirmitive action anti democracy. People who are uneducated or unskilled should not be allowed to get high skilled jobs in the line of politics and in the market place. they should have a few years of proper training before they will be accepted into politics or the market place. Jobs in the government must be given by merits and not by the color of ones skin! Or in sports it must be by merit and not by the color of ones skin. Truth is in reality it will take years to change the paradigm in this republic of ours. a huge shifting in thinking must be created trough a new system of education. it's the only way. Kind regards Mr Derek
Hi Koos, I agree. We have not even begun to sort out this problem. In terms of Black Empowerment and Affirmative Action, I also agree. In fact I think that these practices are much more dis-empowering to the beneficiaries than they are to the marginalized group, especially when the beneficiaries are a 90% majority as with the case in South Africa. What messages does this send to those that must be empowered? I would be offended if I had full political power (for over 20 years) and still needed assistance to benefit against a group of people who makes out less than 10% of the population. You say that it will take years for this problem to remedy. My opinion is that it will get worse. As population increases and resources decrease, there is bound to be heightened conflict and racial tension. Thus, chances are good that it might become worse.