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?
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© 2013 Derek Hendrikz
