In one weekend, a white American teenager murdered 10 black people in a supermarket and a white South African teenager humiliated a black peer by peeing on his belongings inside his dormitory.
Of course the two incidents cannot be compared, but it does highlight both the stubborn prevalence, and the range that racism continues to occupy in society.
From last year’s racist shooting of nine people in a German bar and ugly words being sprayed over a mural of Desmond Tutu in Longmarket Street, to sporadic incidents of racist language at some of Cape Town’s top schools, there appears to be no end in sight.
There’s a lot to unpack about the shooting in Buffalo, New York, that also left three white people wounded.
The most telling is how a clearly deranged man, kitted out in military fatigues and with weapons clearly visible, was calmly and patiently arrested by police, after having openly mowed down shoppers moments earlier.
Compare that with how many times unarmed African Americans have been violently arrested for doing ordinary things – like sitting in a coffee shop, taking out the trash, riding in their cars, or even just enjoying the great outdoors.
These are all indicative of how resistant to change our society is; and most importantly, how poorly some parents continue to raise their children.
The Stellenbosch University peeing incident is a clear example of why we need to do a lot more as a community in general, and parents in particular.
I have often written about the hope I have for the younger generation, which I believe is not as blinkered and narrow-minded as the older folks.
Born-frees were forced to integrate and mix widely, meaning much of the cross-cultural fears and ignorance were instantly erased by circumstance.
Access to the internet also means that they are communicating more freely and openly about sensitive topics that we weren’t able to do in previous years.
Their prejudice tolerance is much lower, because they are openly talking about hair texture, social insecurities, domestic differences and even sexual preferences.
The wonderful result is that they are growing up with the appreciation and understanding that people are much more similar than we want to admit; and that the only significant difference is economic.
So in this day and age, given all the social progress, why does this broad range of racism still exist?
Why does a white Gen-Z murder black people in cold blood, live-streaming it for his like-minded followers to “enjoy”?
Or, in the case of Stellenbosch, why does another think it is OK to strip his black peer of any mutual respect, in the most vile, dehumanising way, while a camera is being pointed at him?
Science has shown us that children are not born prejudiced, so it’s not nature.
Given everything I have said about access to information, we know it’s not entirely societal.
That leaves just one thing – nurture.
Racism is being programmed into these kids by their racist parents.
It’s either an open and hostile racism that’s being practised at home every day, or a subtle racism that is being aired through the things that are being said around the braai.
The only way you can carefully plot shooting dead other human beings and then go through with it, is if you don’t see them as human beings to begin with.
That being said, I think most of society has evolved away from the old prejudices and into more compassionate, considerate and empathetic human beings.
But there are still a few left who care only about themselves and the privileges that prejudice affords them.
After all, a racist society is good for cowardly white people of average intelligence and whose prospects are diminished should the playing field be levelled.
While the rest of us are trying to raise healthy, respectful and morally-balanced offspring, they are passing their hateful insecurities on to their children.
And those are the people responsible for what happened in New York, what continues to happen at Cape Town schools and at Stellenbosch.
Together with the alumni and benefactors of institutions like Stellenbosch, who fail to attach conditions for change to their funds, they are the resilient moss in humanity’s gene pool; the ones holding us back as a society; the ones who don’t believe in our potential for greatness; that equality can lead to our utopia.
They are the non-believers – the real k@ff!rs, in the truest definition of the word.
breinou@gmail.com