Africans at schools in South Africa have been victims of white supremacy (racism). The recent incident was at Pretoria Girls High School in the Capital City on the 29th August 2016 the girls at that school protested. The Gauteng Provincial MEC for Education Mr Panyaza Lesufi intervened by visiting the school and listened to the girls’ grievances which included being prevented from wearing their natural hair because the white teachers say it looked untidy. They are neither allowed to speak their African languages nor congregate in groups of three.

What is racism (white supremacy)? Dr. Frances Cress Welsing defines  it thus: Racism (White Supremacy) is the local and global power system and dynamic, structured and maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined, which consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of people activity (economics, education, entertainment, labour, law, politics, religion, sex and war), for the ultimate purpose of white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on planet earth – a planet upon which the vast majority of people are classified as non-white (Black, Brown, Red and Yellow) by white skinned people, and all of the non-white people are genetically dominant (in terms of skin colouration) compared to the genetic recessive white skinned people.” She observes that when the term is undefined and poorly understood, there is general confusion and chaos on the part of the victims of that system (local, national and global). It then becomes impossible for its victims to effectively counter it.

During a radio interview on the 29th August, Lesufi attributed what is happening at that Girls High School to a clash of cultures and said that parents should take collective responsibility for racism. Lesufi, alongside the newly inaugurated Mayor of the Capital City, Mr Solly Msimanga of the white-led Democratic Alliance, poorly understand racism and fail to define the problem.

In the conclusion of his book, 'Black Skin White Masks,' which every African child must read, Fanon wrote, “I don’t carry innocence to the point of believing that appeals to reason or to respect for human dignity can alter reality.” Marimba Ani writes that racism is the fire ignited by the Europeans; our response is only the smoke. There is no way to extinguish a fire without experiencing the smoke. Europeans have made the fire; we will put it out.

What Fanon means is that even if we can appeal to Europeans or whites to respect the African people’s human dignity, our appeals will fall on deaf ears until we act decisively to destroy racism. African people cannot and should not be responsible for what was created by Europeans. The African people’s responsibility is to put out the fire of racism.

The prerequisite to non-racialism is the destruction of white supremacy. This means the sine qua non for destroying white supremacy is the establishment a non-racial society. Non-racialism and racism are mutually exclusive. Sobukwe had all the solutions to this country’s problems as far back as the mid-1940’s and late 1950’s. I have suggested in the past that schools, colleges, universities, Lesufi’s ANC and Msimanga’s DA should introduce the teachings of Sobukwe, Fanon and Marimba Ani in the curriculum, instead of trying to erase them.

By Sam Ditshego

www.harakati.co.za

 @iamsamditshego