Last year South Africa recently celebrated Freedom Day and 23 years of the country’s democracy. However, there are still some issues that the country has not been able to rid itself of. Of these, are the racial tensions that have eclipsed the rainbow nation after 1994. The state of race relations in South Africa has been placed at the epicenter of public discourse on numerous occasions. The most recent being that of the 12-year-old boy who allegedly stole a sunflower from his farm.
Terry Oakley-Smith took time to speak on white privilege in South Africa, here are her quotables;
1. We enjoyed 40 years of privilege and we still enjoy privilege
2. As white South Africans we got out scot free after Apartheid, we never had to apologise or pay reparations for our actions
3. White kids were taken into the veld as part of their curriculum and lectured about how blacks are inferior
4. Many white people don’t know how to relate to people of other races
5. The rainbow nation is just a myth
6. Black South African tried to create an atmosphere of reconciliation but many whites didn’t come to the party
7. We all had something to do with apartheid, we still enjoying lives of privilege compared to other black people
8. Little has been done to redress past injustices
9. Very difficult for organisations to improve racial relationships in work spaces
10. I disagree that whites are the easy targets. Whites should be humble, take a back seat and listen.
