Week 5: From Selma to Johannesburg to Cape Town

This week, I watched two incredible movies about civil rights movements in both the U.S. and South Africa. In the movie Selma, Martin Luther Kind led protesters in a undying march for the equal voting rights. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, follows Nelson Mandela life from childhood to the ending of apartheid and his victorious presidential election.

I was constantly at awe at how selfless these two civil rights leaders were in their pursuits for freedom. Both dedicated their entire lives, and even risked their lives, to sway entire nations to their cause. It was amazing how they were able to rally both political and social support, with constant references to "The People" they were fighting for. It was also incredibly painful to follow the suffering The People endured. Reading on paper about the brutality and injustice they faced is one thing, but witnessing it through video makes it all the more real. But it is from these historic films that I can understand more where the people of South Africa are emerging from. Apartheid ended merely 20 years ago, and many of the people impacted by the oppressive policy are still alive today. It are those people that we will be working with this coming summer. I am glad to have watched these movies so I can see not only the struggle but also the resilience the people of South Africa had in their fight for equality and freedom.

Week 4: Climbing Hills

The beauty about this quote is that once you crest one of these hills and look backwards, you realize how far you've come. Both Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. are great men who have battled their way up many such hills for their countries. They both came to prominence due to unrest with racial laws and prejudice in their communities. And through their efforts and leadership, they were able to rally entire countries in a movement against racial discrimination. Sadly, MLK's fight was cut short when he was assassinated at the age of 39. He realized much work was still to be done in the urban north, but was unable to accomplish that work. Mandela was fortunate enough to continue his climb for equality almost until his death.

What I find so inspirational in these two leaders is how, even after accomplishing so much in their lives, they still felt the necessity and drive to accomplish so much more. This even ties into the work that we will be doing in South Africa in just over three months. With all the progress that this now democratic country has made, there is still much that can be done. Poverty is still very real. Infrastructure problems loom as the population swells. Public health and education can always be improved. I hope that after our Maymester, we too can look back and marvel at what we have accomplished. From then, we would look to the future and the other challenges that may come.

Week 3: Past, Present, and Future

South Africa really is a cultural melting pot with a turbulent history. In 1652, the Dutch-East India Trading Company first landed in South Africa at the present day Cape Town, setting off a chain of historical events as the British, Trek Boers, Afrikaners, Xhosas, Zulus, and so many other groups clashed over the next hundreds of years to live in this land. Just reading the brief overview of South Africa's history had me constantly referencing a map and struggling to keep the many historic (and even tragic) conflicts straight in my head.

I also never realized the severity of apartheid in South Africa. Beginning in 1910, a series of laws separated and reduced the rights of the black population. This includes the "Mines and Works Act", cutting black's employment to menial work to guarantee better jobs for whites, the 1913 "Native Land Act" that essentially restricted blacks to reservations constituting 7.3% of South Africa's land, to even "Bantu" educational measures that reduced black children to learning how to wash dishes and weed flower beds.

But through all this emerged "New South Africa", a term I had never heard before but makes perfect sense to use. This New South Africa exists in the modern world as many other nations do, as it lives in a more democratic society, strives to empower women, gathers in the world's largest mining investment conference, and even gears up to face its arch-nemesis in sports, the Aussies. On the surface, South Africa appears very much like other countries. However, the lingering effects of post-apartheid still surfaces in many of the news headlines I scanned. Additionally, much of the country's population still lives in extreme poverty, just one concrete example of how apartheid, which ended only 25 years ago, still affects the South African people today.

However, I believe that with the same resilience that this country's people used to be where they are today that they can overcome these social issues. People like David Gilmour, Deputy Assistant Director of the Bureau of African Affairs, have been a part of this movement in social development. When we hear him speak in our seminar this week, I would like to ask him how has being an American influenced his relations with the South African people and his favorite part of this nation.

Week 2: Reflecting on Race

Growing up, I was very blessed to live in one of the most diverse cities in America, Sugar Land, TX. But even with diversity and being surrounded by people from different backgrounds and heritages, or "races", I noticed that there was a case of colorblindness within my community. We were taught as we were growing up that we should ignore race and that to openly discuss race could be rude or was to simply break social norm. My peers and I simply silently acknowledged each other's race, but never discussed the social ramifications that our differences may create.

Therefore, when I read Peggy MacIntosh's article about white privilege, the large disparity between the white majority and other racial minorities became much more clear to me after years of me accepting it as simply "the norm". As an Asian American, and therefore a minority, many of the her ideas, such as being underrepresented in everyday life, rang true for me. However, there are far reaching consequences to being oblivious of how one's skin color can both affect how they are treated and alter the paths open to them. Racism in America, although no longer including "individual acts of meanness," is still alive if not merely hidden in our unconscious.

But race is only one dimension of one's identity. Beverly Tatum brings forward many other aspects that define "Who Am I?" including religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and ablebodyness. In short, it is a complex question. My main takeaway was how the dominant identity can stretch itself to become the standard against which minority identities stand out. It is with this that I am often aware of my Asian heritage and youth while in line at the voting poll, my youth when volunteering with business professionals, and even my height when I am with many of my Asian female friends (I am often a head taller than them).

However, as PBS.org states, "Colorblindness will not end racism." I believe that we as a society need to embrace each other's differences and celebrate them. Then we must be active to tilt the scale of "dominant" versus "subordinate" in terms of race. It is that component of changing policy "at the expense of the of others" to right this scale that will be the most challenging to overcome.