We live in a country that still battles racial tension and inequality, even 23 years after Apartheid. For our grandparents, who can narrate their stories of oppression, from getting thrown off of beaches to being beaten by the police, 23 years are not that long. For people of colour, stories of oppression consume our heritage, from slavery, rape, executions, loss of our homes and loss of our independence. This oppression still exists but the methods have been altered.
Reverse racism does not exist. Those who disagree have not taken the time to understand the true nature of racism, which does not only exist in prejudices and stereotypes. We hear racial prejudice all the time, whether it be at a braai after your uncle has had too many beers, or your friend giving you the side eye after she spotted a white guy on campus barefoot in the rain, muttering ‘white people’ under her breath. Every racial group carries around a specific stereotype based on the colour of their skin. Coloured people don’t have front teeth, black people can’t swim, and white people can’t dance. We have heard it all. Reverse racism does not refer to these stereotypes because racism is a system with one racial group in control of another.
Only someone who is in a position of power, economically, socially and systematically can be racist. With a past that goes back to colonialism, white people have been placed in these positions of power for centuries. They have invented racism, because they had the power to. Steve Biko stated in his book I write what I like, “Those who know, define racism as discrimination by a group against another for the purposes of subjugation or maintaining subjugation. In other words, one cannot be a racist unless he has the power to subjugate”. Throughout history, white people have had this power. The end of Apartheid has ended laws, but not social structures.
The history of black people and the history of white people follow two different paths based on one simple difference; white people were not oppressed. This makes it difficult for black people to be racist towards white people. Today many white people misunderstand equality for reverse racism. Suddenly, they are not getting a job because Tsepho is qualified too. Equality is a hard pill to swallow. Although I am not shutting down any hardships of white people in post-apartheid South Africa, I will say that Apartheid has created a lasting effect that still sees millions of black people impoverished and uneducated, while most white people are simply not. Reverse racism is difficult to argue when black people still suffer under oppressive systems due to their race.