Whites wait on the touchline to label the next black buffoon
by STEVEN FRIEDMAN
Published: 2009/07/15 07:05:48 AM
by STEVEN FRIEDMAN
Published: 2009/07/15 07:05:48 AM
FIFTEEN years after apartheid formally ended, it is time for those
whites who never tire of accusing others of “playing the race card” to
realise how often they do it themselves — without even noticing.
whites who never tire of accusing others of “playing the race card” to
realise how often they do it themselves — without even noticing.
I don’t understand rugby: I have never fathomed why 30 adults would
want to jump on each other to grab a ball that is the wrong shape. And
so I have no idea whether our national coach, Peter de Villiers, is
good at his job. But what I cannot help noticing is how common it is
in our society for black people who cross boundaries, which whites
create, to be reduced to figures of fun.
want to jump on each other to grab a ball that is the wrong shape. And
so I have no idea whether our national coach, Peter de Villiers, is
good at his job. But what I cannot help noticing is how common it is
in our society for black people who cross boundaries, which whites
create, to be reduced to figures of fun.
The problem is not that people criticise De Villiers — or Percy Sonn
or Norman Arendse or black lawyers and business people whose names
come to mind: in a free society everyone can criticise everyone else.
It is that they are reduced to buffoons, butts of ridicule, much as
smiling minstrels were in the days when prejudices were expressed more
directly because they were the law.
or Norman Arendse or black lawyers and business people whose names
come to mind: in a free society everyone can criticise everyone else.
It is that they are reduced to buffoons, butts of ridicule, much as
smiling minstrels were in the days when prejudices were expressed more
directly because they were the law.
It is possible that some who are reduced to comic cutouts in this way
are as foolish as those who denigrate them claim. But it seems highly
unlikely that there is a law of South African life that decrees that
all black people who gravitate to posts many whites believe to be
beyond them, or express views many whites would rather not hear,
happen also to be clowns. It seems far more likely that some end up
saying injudicious things because the constant sneering of detractors
convinced that black people are simply not up to particular tasks take
its toll — and more than possible that some are not foolish at all but
are lampooned in this way because this enables some whites to convince
themselves of their own superiority and to console themselves for
their loss of power.
are as foolish as those who denigrate them claim. But it seems highly
unlikely that there is a law of South African life that decrees that
all black people who gravitate to posts many whites believe to be
beyond them, or express views many whites would rather not hear,
happen also to be clowns. It seems far more likely that some end up
saying injudicious things because the constant sneering of detractors
convinced that black people are simply not up to particular tasks take
its toll — and more than possible that some are not foolish at all but
are lampooned in this way because this enables some whites to convince
themselves of their own superiority and to console themselves for
their loss of power.
There seem to be two sources for this prejudice. First, many whites
still believe there are jobs only they can do. Can anyone who is
honest about the prejudices that dominate cricket — our national one-
day team has fewer black players than England and, sometimes, the same
as New Zealand — believe that any black person who, if the guardians
of the sport lost concentration long enough to allow this, was
appointed coach would last more than a few days before the buffoon
label was slapped on them?
still believe there are jobs only they can do. Can anyone who is
honest about the prejudices that dominate cricket — our national one-
day team has fewer black players than England and, sometimes, the same
as New Zealand — believe that any black person who, if the guardians
of the sport lost concentration long enough to allow this, was
appointed coach would last more than a few days before the buffoon
label was slapped on them?
Second, ingrained prejudice ensures that the margin of error for black
public figures is much smaller than that for whites. While some senior
black legal figures have been quickly relegated to buffoonery for
their utterances, the same fate does not seem to await the white judge
who implied recently that, as an inheritor of English tradition, he
honoured his work obligations whatever the state of his health — and
that, by implication, Africans book themselves off at the slightest
excuse.
public figures is much smaller than that for whites. While some senior
black legal figures have been quickly relegated to buffoonery for
their utterances, the same fate does not seem to await the white judge
who implied recently that, as an inheritor of English tradition, he
honoured his work obligations whatever the state of his health — and
that, by implication, Africans book themselves off at the slightest
excuse.
And we all know of a white columnist whose racial stereotypes have
landed him plum positions on the lecture circuit. Would the same
happen to a black columnist who blamed all whites for Auschwitz,
Hiroshima and global economic crises?
landed him plum positions on the lecture circuit. Would the same
happen to a black columnist who blamed all whites for Auschwitz,
Hiroshima and global economic crises?
More is at stake here than just pointing out that the prejudices that
kept apartheid alive still survive.
kept apartheid alive still survive.
The prejudices that allow some to be pilloried in this way do not
present themselves openly as racial biases — their power stems
precisely from their ability to appear as expressions of nonracial
common sense.
present themselves openly as racial biases — their power stems
precisely from their ability to appear as expressions of nonracial
common sense.
That is no doubt why some black commentators and whites with strong
nonracial credentials join in the baiting — because reducing some
black public figures to jokes seems to be what sensible people do;
that the victims are invariably black people who have offended some
whites is presumably coincidental.
nonracial credentials join in the baiting — because reducing some
black public figures to jokes seems to be what sensible people do;
that the victims are invariably black people who have offended some
whites is presumably coincidental.
This trend is part of a wider pattern in our public debate: it
portrays our divide as one between those (usually white) who want to
put race behind them and those (always black) who want to use it as a
stick with which to beat the competent.
portrays our divide as one between those (usually white) who want to
put race behind them and those (always black) who want to use it as a
stick with which to beat the competent.
But reducing others to buffoons in the name of “merit” and “standards”
is not prejudice-free. It is the old prejudice in a slightly new
guise: it continues to express a deep-seated belief that whites are
competent, blacks are not.
is not prejudice-free. It is the old prejudice in a slightly new
guise: it continues to express a deep-seated belief that whites are
competent, blacks are not.
And which sort of racial prejudice should worry us more — that of
black professionals and politicians who react to bigotry in
selfserving ways or those of bigots whose prejudices are so deeply
rooted that they manage to convince themselves and others that they
are not prejudices at all?
------------------------------
- Steven Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of
Democracy, an initiative of Rhodes University and the University of
Johannesburg.
black professionals and politicians who react to bigotry in
selfserving ways or those of bigots whose prejudices are so deeply
rooted that they manage to convince themselves and others that they
are not prejudices at all?
------------------------------
- Steven Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of
Democracy, an initiative of Rhodes University and the University of
Johannesburg.
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