The First Time I Tried To Write About South Africa...

This is the essay I submitted to my professor in the second week of class, when we were still getting ready to go to South Africa and I didn't know jack about the country. It's funny to look back on this essay, since I'm leaving tomorrow.

I still can't believe this essay didn't get me kicked out of the program...

South African Narrative


Whoa there colonialist cowboy! Where in the hells do I start? Ok so South Africa is this country at the southern tip of Africa. Like a million years ago there were only blacks that lived there. Then (unfortunately) white people from Britain and Holland and Denmark (and other places where white people come from) settled in the area. They were terrible to the blacks. They forced them to live in townships and clean their bathrooms. They would take aside blacks who did not follow their commands and mercilessly beat them to death.

Then, Steve Biko arrived on the scene! He educated himself with the whites and was able to articulate what he saw as forced subjegation.

Biko was also not such a fan of white liberals. He thought that the black movement must come from blacks, not Whiteys who “sympathized” with blacks but didn’t want to give up their shit in the revolution. Biko was eventually killed by whites….

But now South Africa is a rainbow nation! And everyone lives harmoniously together! And Apartheid has ended! Right? RIGHT!?

No. There are many colors of the rainbow in South Africa but they do not all get along. Blacks are still poor, and whites are wealthy. Lack of education, AIDS, and racism still affects blacks who live in the townships. The people who live there are now free to vote and travel, but poverty affects many. There is a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor.

But we’re going to help solve this right?

No.

We’re going to South Africa to listen and learn, We are going to try and understand what the political scene is like in South Africa without judging individual actors. We are going to try and open our hearts and minds, and engage in “Socratic conversation” or something. We are going to try to not be ethnocentric. This is easier said then done.

And then there’s tourist South Africa. The wildlife! The hotels! The casinos! The beach! The flora! The fauna! The waves! The surfing!

We will be trying to enjoy these aspects of South Africa while remembering what’s really going on politically. It will be a troubling contrast to many of us.

The crime:

Some of us are worried about the crime….but….lord almighty have you been to the Ave recently!? Like actually walked down the ave at night alone!? Hells no you haven’t. That’s because at Tommy’s Nightclub, peeps get shot on the daily!

So there are unsafe areas in Seattle just like there are unsafe areas in South Africa. We will be careful.

Then there’s the music. My god the music! Has your soul ever been stirred awake by the sound of one woman’s high-pitched vibrato? Mine hadn’t until this one girl from South Africa came into our class and sang for us. Jesus Mary and Joseph. I died.

Okay so you may think this South African narrative is a bit…well…under researched. But this is honestly all that I’ve learned so far from this class. I’m not going to bullshit you and tell you I read up on everything I could. I went to travel stores…I read lonely planet….lonely planet is a TOURIST guide! I learned nothing from it. I’ve honestly read the Wikipedia entry on South Africa about five times. These are all the insights I’ve had. This is what’s been on my mind. This is what I think about when I think about South Africa. Please don’t hate me.

I think I got a warning and a tentative "C+" from my professor.