What South African History has taught me about Kindness
“I travel around the world in a way that tries to open my mind and give me empathy and inspire me to come home and make this world a better place” - Rick Steves
This was my second trip to South Africa. Both trips I visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. Apartheid is such a complex and horrific part of their history, but very important for us to all understand. With all the societal racial issues we face, I went back to gain further perspective given my recent experiences speaking to diverse audiences about The Kindness of Color.
When you enter the museum, your ticket designates you as “white” or “non-white” and you walk in separate doors to read about what the apartheid experience would have been like for you. Last trip, I was a “non-white” person, and I could relate to the classification of being “othered,” segregated as different, taunted by name calling and having to stand up in a judgmental unequal society. This time, my ticket designated me as “white” and I was struck by the tension in my heart and soul of not wanting to be here. This ticket identified me as being one who supported apartheid/segregation of non-white people. They were seen and treated as not worthy of equal rights and the freedoms white people enjoyed. This tension was a visceral experience for me and it went against my DNA reading about the privileges that I holding a “white” ticket would have enjoyed versus the oppression suffered by non-white people.
Apartheid was institutionalized racial segregation of the non-white majority in South Africa by the white minority in 1948. It wasn’t abolished until the early 1990s, most notably, when Nelson Mandela, a native black prisoner for 27 years, was elected President of the country in its first free presidential election in 1994. Only 29 years ago! But this change was far too late for the loss of non-white South Africans who suffered tremendous hardship, racism, and destruction of their communities as they were forced into slum townships, and the loss of thousands of lives when non-violent student and adult protesters were killed. The law might have changed but the devastation and trauma of those years continues to create problems. But healing is happening slowly.
I visited Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived: Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu. With humble servant hearts to lead their country forward, their stories and perspectives are truth for today’s racial issues and divides.
Nelson Mandela is known for his plea for the people to forgive those who oppressed them as he learned to forgive those who kept him imprisoned for 27 years. He believed that forgiveness was the only way to make progress for the South African society. This is no easy change of heart after decades of oppression, but he knew that forgiveness would be the only weapon that heals.
Here are their words, as true today as the day they spoke them:
“Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it's such a powerful weapon.” - Nelson Mandela
“We are charged to unearth the truth about our dark past, to lay the ghosts of that past to rest so that they will not return to haunt us; and thereby contribute to the healing of a traumatized and wounded people, for all of us in South Africa are wounded people.” - Bishop Desmond Tutu
“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” - Nelson Mandela
“As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression and injustice, the world has an even greater instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love.” - Bishop Desmond Tutu
What I learned in South Africa makes me more passionate to cultivate kindness toward one another and stand against racism. I’ve just read Trevor Noah’s book, Born a Crime, his first hand story of growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa and hope you’ll add it to your reading list too.
Join me in cultivating more kindness among us all to ensure this history NEVER repeats itself!
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