Defeating racism requires reconciliation

On July 19, 2015, in the American southern state of South Carolina, an historic event took place. The ‘battle flag’ of the pro-slavery Confederate Army was lowered and removed from the grounds of its state capital building.

The magnitude of that act’s impact on the race question in America is yet to be realised and, perhaps, even less understood.

Nonetheless, it could provide America with another chance to take meaningful steps towards the eradication of lagging vestiges of the belief in white superiority and the misguided notion of the USA being the private property of Americans of European decent.

Contextually, it was 54 years ago that the Confederate battle flag was raised as an expression of the state’s continued rebellion against the struggle of African-Americans to fully realise their human rights in the US.

MAINTAIN ENSLAVEMENT

Ironically, it was also in South Carolina, 155 years ago, in 1860, that the state announced that it had chosen to separate from the USA.

Within a few months, it was joined by 10 other states. Their objective was to maintain the enslavement of blacks. The “cornerstone… of the new country…,” as  clearly stated by their vice-president Alexander Hamilton Stevens, was the “great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition…”

Their battle flag was hoisted, and this battle flag witnessed the deaths of thousands of Americans, black and white, in a four-year civil war that concluded with the separatists flag being lowered in defeat and the flag of the USA raised in victory in each of the Confederate states.

UNYIELDING MANTRA

Unfortunately, as the light of day ceased to shine on their cherished symbol, the dawn of an unyielding mantra — “the South shall rise again” — began. It was a deranged belief in that mantra that led to the recent massacre of nine African Americans in a church in the city of Charlestown, South Carolina. It was a shocking reminder of the ongoing impact of racism in America.

The vote of the South Carolina legislature to remove the Confederate flag from its grounds has contributed to reducing racial tensions in the state. Of more importance, the families of those murdered in the Charlestown church forgave the accused killer. They refused to harbour hate.

The repudiation of symbols of hate and discrimination is an important step towards healing the wounds of victims of hate and discrimination. However, history has shown that the eradication of the meanings behind the symbols from the psyche of their creators requires far more than the removal of the physical symbol. It requires a long-term effort to cleanse the nation of vestiges of “white supremacy”.

From the outset, there must be a national acknowledgement of the need for national healing. In spite of President Barack Obama’s call for a national dialogue on the race question, widespread acknowledgement of the correctness of having that discussion has yet to present itself.

As an African American, born 60 miles from the South Carolina state capital, I think this is an appropriate moment for us to take the long awaited step forward on the arduous road of national racial reconciliation.

Prof Gaskins is the executive director of Sosiani Consulting.