Zero Tolerance for Hate Speech in South Africa - The Power of Words
Hate speech. A topic that has been at the forefront of South African media for the last couple of days, and the subject of fierce debate! When your mamma told you "if you can't say anything nice about something, keep your mouth shut" you should have listened!
2016 started very badly for Kwa-Zulu Natal real estate agent, Penny Sparrow. Her racist rant concerning black beach goers celebrating the New Year went viral and landed her in some serious trouble. Penny unfortunately represents a certain segment of white South Africans who are oh so kind to blacks and even voted for Nelson Mandela (as if), but by their words and deeds demonstrate their true colours. Penny got caught out.
(the beginning: the facebook post - image: ecr.co.za)
After this post went viral causing a massive outcry, Penny quickly "apologized".
(the apology - image: ewn.co.za
Penny, filled with a sense of self-righteousness, qualified her apology.
" Every year it is the same story; it’s their [black people] day and we don’t go in the beach, we don’t interfere, we let it be. We all know it and there is nothing wrong. We stay out of the way and stay at home," she said. "I am sorry that it has taken such a viral turn, but it was just a statement of how it was. I made the mistake of comparing them [black people] with monkeys. Monkeys are cute and they’re naughty, but they [black people] don’t see it that way, but I do because I love animals,” she said. "I wasn’t being nasty or rude or horrible, but it’s just that they [black people] make a mess. It is just how they are.” Sparrow remained largely unrepentant, saying that she had just "said it how she felt it". http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/its-just-the-facts-penny-sparrow-breaks-her-silence-20160104
The result of this fiasco is that Penny immediately lost her job as a real estate agent, with the Real Estate Company quickly distancing themselves from her. She was then reported to the South African Human Rights Commission and taken to the Equality Court where she was fined R150 000 ($10 366). She was the recipient of so much hate mail, including threats of rape and murder, which extended to her family, that her phone was disabled. Penny has since suffered a heart attack, and a hospitalisation. Headlines in South Africa are now proclaiming the latest chapter in the saga. Penny has, after a plea bargain, plead guilty to a charge of crimen injuria, and was fined R5000 ($345), which she has agreed to pay over a period of 5 months. I don't know what arrangements have been made for the first fine, as she says she can't afford it.
Penny had to read out a public apology, as well as post it on facebook as part of the deal:
"It is difficult to put into words the regret I feel. I will from now on strive to be a better citizen respecting others, working towards making our country a better place to live in. A place we can be accepting of each other. A place we can all call home. “I accept that in comparing black people to monkeys in my Facebook post earlier this year I have impaired the dignity of African people. Please accept my heartfelt apology.” http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/i-will-strive-to-be-a-better-citizen-penny-sparrow-20160912
This year hate speech has been shoved in our faces in South Africa, with every single race represented. I can't find it at this moment but I'm sure I saw something defamatory about the neon greens by the deep purples. Ntokozo Qwabe, one of the leaders of the Rhodes Must Fall movement, an anti-colonial movement posted the following on facebook after a dinner out:
"LOL wow unable to stop smiling because something so black, wonderful & LIT just happened! And of course, the catalyst was a radical non-binary trans black activist - Wandile Dlamini - from the Rhodes Must Fall movement. Because trans activists have BEEN the ultimate blessers of this decolonial struggle! To cut the long story short, we are out at Obz Cafe with the said activist, and the time for the bill comes. Our waitress is a white woman. I ask the said activist what the going rate for tips/gratuity is in these shores. They look at me very reluctantly and they say 'give me the slip, I'll sort that out'. I give them the slip.They take a pen & slip in a note where the gratuity/tip amount is supposed to be entered. The note reads in bold: "WE WILL GIVE TIP WHEN YOU RETURN THE LAND". The waitress comes to us with a card machine for the bill to be sorted out. She sees the note & starts shaking. She leaves us & bursts into typical white tears (like why are you crying when all we've done is make a kind request? lol!). Anyways, so this white woman goes to her colleagues who are furious. She exits to cry at the back & a white male colleague of hers reluctantly comes out to address us & to annoy us more with his own white tears telling us that he finds our act "racist".We then start breaking it down for this white man & ask him why they are catching feelings when we haven't even started (like the part where we take up arms hasn't even come & yall are already out here drowning us in your white tears? Really white people? Wow.). We start drawing him to the political nature of the act & why we couldn't be bothered that they decided to catch feelings from the note. We tell him it's great that business as usual has stopped & the pressing issue of land is now on the agenda in that space - seeing the country was celebrating 'Freedom Day' yesterday. We then chase him back to do his job. And continue with our conversation before exiting the café.
Moral of the story: the time has come when no white person will be absolved. We are tired of "not all white people" and all other bullshit. We are here, and we want the stolen land back. No white person will be out here living their best life while we are out here being a landless and dispossessed black mass. NO white person shall rest. It is irrelevant whether you personally have land/wealth or you don't. Go to your fellow white people & mobilise for them to give us the land back. That will be the starting point of all our interactions from now. We will agitate all our spaces with the big question: WHERE IS THE LAND?" http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/rhodes-must-fall-leader-tells-waiter-we-will-give-tip-when-you-return-land-20160429
This year also witnessed Thabo Mabotja, an Economic Freedom Front (EFF) party candidate being banned from taking part in the elections because of this statement:
(citizen.co.za)
Velaphi Khumalo, an employee of the Gauteng Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Department posted the following in a reaction to Penny Sparrow's post:
“We must act as Hitler did to the Jews. I don’t believe any more that the is a large number of not so racist whit people. I’m starting to be sceptical even of those within our Movement the ANC. I will from today unfriend all white people I have as friends from today u must be put under the same blanket as any other racist white because secretly u all are a bunch of racist f**k heads. as we have already seen [all sic],” http://citizen.co.za/1226263/all-whites-must-be-hacked-and-killed-eff-candidate/
Then there were the white people who supported Penny Sparrow:
(image: http://city-press.news24.com/News/racism-in-search-of-penny-sparrows-people-20160110 - This man is from Newcastle where I live, and I know him well. I wish I could say I was shocked when his name popped up in my research for this article.)
( - this man lost all the sponsorships for his business.)
( ~ no words!)
What we need to take away from these sorry events is that words have power. They have the power to mortally wound, or to heal. Even in our personal relationships, words have the power to "make or break". Words carry an energy that have consequences for humanity as a whole, notwithstanding the very real consequences, ie legal/professional, to your immediate life. None of us are "a basket of deplorables", or maybe all of us are. Namaste
My apologies, I don't know why the last 2 images repeated themselves! I am definitely not experienced in editing!
And I assume the blacks will give back the stolen land to the Khoisan who they murdered and take the land when migrated to the south and settled in South Africa.
Be very careful what you say or you shall be punished.
That's called Free Speech
If people are not allowed to voice their opinions they will resort to violence eventually. I see racism on both sides and interestingly I think in the end voicing the concerns helps bring both Whites and Blacks together. Both sides will heard the complaints and feelings of the other side and in the end be able to have an honest conversation. But to get to an honest conversation, sometimes venting is first needed by both parties. I wouldn't try to stifle concerns and feelings, but address them. To address the problem you must feel like you can safely express what you believe the problem to be. This is not an endorsement of racist comments, but an encouragement to learn what we can and address what can be addressed.
I agree with expressing concerns and understand your point about venting. I do wish people would be careful with their words, as once they have been said, the energy associated with them, positive or negative doesn't disappear. It is like the blockchain - there forever.
And Velaphi Khumalo can post that comment and nothing happens ??
Yup, I just left it there.
A sort of 'urban legend' this was attributed to Kramer from the Seinfeld TV series as a defense in court against his racism charge. Some very valid points in my opinion......
"Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to this? There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman'... and that's OK..
But when I call you, ******, Kike, Towel head, Sand-******, Camel Jockey, Beaner, ****, or Chink .. You call me a racist.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you... so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You have the United ***** College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah. You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP. You have BET.... If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.
We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud.... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists?"
I'm a white South African and in my experience the historical racism of whites deserves ongoing pressure, because I have witnessed horrendous incidents of racism by people of my skin colour. I do think minorities in other countries (in ours, the majority) have suffered greatly under oppression and we do need to be constantly engaged on this topic, and it is why "the others" have so many special days and events. BUT this in no way justifies racism against whites, which is real too.
but you are alright when the blacks are racists against the whites, because that is what happened in Obz cafe.