POLOKWANE – He said he and many other residents had a rare experience of having people of all races gather in one place, and it wasn’t election day.
I differ with him on the matter because while it is true that the event he was referring to was the most diverse I’ve ever witnessed in Limpopo, I also know the following about the people who were in attendance:
• They weren’t there because they wanted to reach out to each other after having an epiphany,
• They did not inform each other of their intention to attend the event and probably some white people may have paused to ask themselves if there weren’t going to be too many black people there.
• They were not going there to fix race relations.
• They were not there to get friendly with strangers just to prove they were not racist.
• They knew very well that other races would also be in attendance.
It would be unfair not to point out that there’s a fair amount of South Africans who don’t think along racial lines and whose surroundings are protected from racism, not that they don’t know of its existence, but their conscious is clear since they have not directly or willfully engaged in acts of racism.
There’s a perception in Polokwane that law enforcement have impromptu roadblocks near places where black youths party. There were no roadblocks at last weekend’s event, if there were, the cops would have found it difficult to target black youth (if they’re indeed targeting them as suggested) since there were other races present.
Before you accuse me of being negative, let me hasten to inform you that other than people who’s relationships are based on abuse of liquor or other substances, mixed race couples are hard to come by in Polokwane. I must also state that increased interactions between people of different races does not necessarily translate into absence of racism. So this is not about whether there’s racism or not, or whether its possible for a black person to be racist; this is about what we have seen.
A small crowd with a hectic line up of entertainment over three days. At each of these gigs there was a real rainbow nation ambiance with music, dancing, booze and no fights or incidents of criminality recorded.
Back to the conversation with my friend. I told him he was being naive for thinking we were suddenly racism free. I told him none-racialism was not about merely being allowed to marry across races or about being allowed access to the same public facilities, for example toilets and buses.
The people who were at the event, as individuals and collectively, were there because they fall within a group targeted by 5FM, check the station’s Living Standard Measure (LSM) if you don’t believe it. Racism in our society is so entrenched it will take much more than just entertainment to do away with it.
For more from Kgaogelo Magolego, follow him on Twitter: @ThisKg
