My people are tearing at their own flesh. Like children tear at scabs. Impatient with the irresistible resistance the skin displays when it reluctantly comes together again .
***
The history of South Africa does not fit the mainstream black-and-white narrative that frequents international media and movies like Wakanda . Our history begins in Cape Town , a Khoena territory, where my ancestors (Dutch,Khoena,Indonesian,Malagasi,etc) gave birth to Britain’s new colonial prospect . They built a fort and established Cape Town as a City of Good Hope. Dutch settlers , workers of the Dutch East India Company , brought slaves from the West Indies , the Indonesian Archipelago , Madagascar , etc to come and build this city. Afrikaans was born , a creole language . For a creole people.
Khoi people were assimilating into the established slave population. Overpowered and outmaneuvered by the Dutch East India Company. The Global superpower at the time. And the Bantu peoples were settled in the lush and fertile North-Eastern and Eastern areas of what is now South Africa. Far from the unforgiving conditions of the Cape. Which was also called The Cape of Storms. Many Khoena people had offspring with the Bantu settlers . These offspring were called amaXhosa , a Khoena word in origin . And they gave rise to yet another creole language : isiXhosa , a language which retained many of the Nǀuu clicks . We are a creole people .
Then Britain rose to be the next global superpower. They colonised the Mother City in an attempt to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French. They mistreated the descendants of the Dutch and French Huguenot settlers (Afrikaner Community) and they were forced to flee away from The Cape of Good Hope which they had built . After years of persecution under British rule , the Afrikaner Community regathered herself and the NP won their first election. The National Party then implemented Apartheid regulations. An act of rage and a fearful and desperate attempt to retain power. A terrible mistake. Which brought the Afrikaner Nation only more subtle forms of marginalisation since 1994 as they find themselves , yet again , punished on account of the decisions made by those in charge. First , punished under British Colonial Rule, then punished in a “new South Africa” for the crimes committed under the NP’s rule.
Though the gonvernment implements many anti-White policies that ultimately cripple all white South Africans , not only Afrikaners , the Afrikaner Community continues to be silenced in the face of brutal attacks on their farms and they’re often still the target of hate speech. Like the infamous and deplorable EFF slogan ,Kill the Boer , which could very well incite a sense of hatred for Afrikaners amongst the vulnerable youth that grow up with these hateful slogans and dogmas.
I hope the Afrikaner community that remains in South Africa , stays. This is your home. We are a Creole Country. And we do a bloody great job at tolerating and respecting and integrating so many different cultures in such a small place. I also hope that Americans will not look at my Afrikaner brethren and think that they know what our history’s all about. Think that they’re the privileged descendants of colonialists who don’t deserve a refugee status. The wealth of South Africa was built with the hands of Afrikaners , Khoena , Bantu and my Indonesian and West-Indies slave ancestors alike . It’s just so unfortunate that our government implements policies averse to Reconciliation and uBuntu. A few days ago, South Africa lost good people who were economic assets . And now they’ll be good people and economic assets in America.
Americans do , however ,seem to have a very black-and-white , twisted idea of our history and who Afrikaners are . My hope is that they don’t treat them like the “white supremacist colonial settlers” I fear they may THINK they are …
The only shame is that Pres. Trump seems to recognise the economic and skillset value of the Afrikaner farmer community in America better than Pres. Ramaphosa is willing to appreciate it for South Africa .
The different areas in South Africa were highly unfavourable to most in the history of Africa . The indigenous /Xam-ka peoples were a primitive , kind and nomadic nation . A way of life that seems to have been respected by earlier Bantu settlers who preferred the rich and fertile areas of Mpumalanga and KZN . A way that would not be respected ,however, by the Khoi and ,possibly, the Nguni, who later massacred the /Xam-ka and began settling in their region as herder-gatherers. Much to the delight of the Dutch East India Company and various other nations who would stop for refreshments and trade along the Southern Coast of Africa .
This was a place where no other African people cared to be save for those who migrated from the North to seek refuge in an untamed world kept pristine by the ways of the /Xam-ka.
This is a land of refuge and promise . For settlers,slaves and native immigrants alike. A land of Good Hope and of Gold . Whether exploited by Anunnaki or colonialists , it has never failed to house its people. To welcome all of mankind back to its cradle .
There is one Hope left to spare in the Cape : that our nation can recognise that there is no moving forward when you’re always looking back . We cannot punish a people for the crimes of their ancestors . If that were remotely just ,we can all be considered guilty of colonialism , slavery and genocide . All of us, without question.
***
My people are tearing at their own flesh. Like children tear at scabs. Impatient with the irresistible resistance the skin displays when it reluctantly comes together again .
Or perhaps it is the child , not the skin , that resists ?
Is there something still caught in the mess of the wound? A thorn or a stinger still beating in the flesh? And if we sit the child down carefully , tell how much we love them . Will they let us remove the poison ? Remove the pain?
Will they then let all the colours of their skin grow back together ? Back to life ?
