"The West Has Raped The World" Me
This is Julie and Gareth. Gareth is a mate of mine who is studying in America. He inspires me allot. At G's Farewell I met a really good friend of his from Cape Town. I have only met Jules once and we have embarked on a friendship which i regard as a really special and challenging one .
Anyway Jules has been recently questioning the norms of society, and i have had the privileged to listen to her story. It has been one of deep thinking and self discovery.
Last night back from spending some time with some mates at St. Patrick's celebration i spoke to Jules. It really made me think and here are my Thoughts
I was listening to 702 on the way home the other day and they were talking about racism within South African business and society. It came after to incidents within the South African Media. The first was a young black intern “blowing the whistle” on racism within Investic and the second was Thabo Mbeki's speech in Parliament saying that whites use crime to hide behind their Racism.
Both had very big repocutions. The allowed comments from callers to come in and it was sad to hear a western thought come in on all matters. I think of all callers maybe three were black and the rest were white people complaining. Not taking both incidents in the context in which they happened. I wanted to call in and say rather than being the complainant lets be the voice in the desert calling for truth and being the hands that provide those truths.
My feelings are that as a white society we are breeding a level are racism in our children. Not only does our language at home and in our cars defeat us but also our actions. You see as being part of a western world, we are used to taking over countries, cultures, people, lifestyles and life .So now it has become far easier for us to sit back and let others conform to us. We say yes we want an integrated community but where I stay I only know of one black family in my community and I very seldom see black people at our houses unless they are cleaning the gardens or the houses. We don't engage with the other communities. The only reason that we do is not out of any other reason than just to comply with government law. Black people leave their township homes to come to our “white”schools, our “white”malls our”white”sports grounds and our “white”workplaces. How many white children go to township schools. How many white people live or go to a party in a township area or shopping in a black mall or how many rugby games have there been at FNB stadium. It is rather let the others change than us.
I told my sister that we should go into townships but her first response was “Its dangerous”. Its not its just our lack of understanding. Black people have become our circus animals that we can work with in the ring but they go sleep in their cages and we stay in our caravans.
Now where is the church in this. I am afraid that the church has sold into Western thought. That saddens me. We have a very self centered church. When last have you heard a message where the church says that you shouldn't drive a Merc or a BMW but rather live simply. I have never heard this message and I am a seasoned church goer and worker. When last has the church engaged in worship that incorporates all cultures. The only time I have seen this was at the Methodist Synod and the white church moaned. I have experienced it myself where ministers tell there Youth Pastors that Youth Synod is a waste of time because they are 4 whites amongst 150 Blacks. The church needs to engage in an unselfish approach. They would do well to learn form the African Church. When last has a white lay person sat in black church service.
WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR CHILDREN IF ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN OUR WORDS???
But this is not an South African problem. The first statement of Purpose Driven Life ( A book written for the American Market) “Its not about you” The world has fallen into this trap and the example of the West's greed is Africa. The colonized, Raped the earth of her wealth, Put in place power hungry people, taught Africans the value of a “BUCK”and bugged off leaving Africa to defend for itself. The West has Raped Our World.
