Throughout my preparation for my internship in Cape Town, South Africa I encountered numerous bits of information concerning racial tensions and problems of inequality still in place from the infamous apartheid era. Therefore I embarked with the expectation that once I had arrived in South Africa, it was possible, even probable that I would witness those tangible problems firsthand. What I did not expect, however, was that I would witness the divisive power of racism firsthand before I even got off the plane.
For the plane ride from New York JFK to Johannesburg Oliver Tambo International Airport I was seated in a row of four white Americans (3 others and myself). Across the aisle to our left were a white South African woman and a black South African man. At a couple points during the plane ride I had seen them exchange annoyed glances and even heard her speak to the man in a harsh tone (I later learned that the man had been drinking for most of the flight and was being very rude and obnoxious toward her). I didn’t think much of these exchanges, however, until the plane was pulling up to the gate and people were beginning to collect their belongings. It was at this point when I realized how deep the tensions left over from apartheid really were for some people.
I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around me since I was busy gathering all of my things in my backpack but all of a sudden I heard the white American man who had been sitting next to me tell the black South African man across the aisle to “get your hands out of my face.” I, as well as everyone within earshot, looked over at what was happening to find the two exchanging harsh words and telling each other to “back off” repeatedly. This continued to escalate until the black South African man used the “f-word” in telling the white American man to get away from him. At this point a white South African man interjected and told the black South African man to watch his mouth because there were ladies around (like me, who was, again, sitting two feet away from all of this) and because he was giving South Africans a bad reputation. His response has been stuck in my head ever since: “No man, you’re not South African. I’m South African; you’re apartheid!” At these words there was a combination of uncomfortable silence from all nearby foreigners, like me, and a collective eye-roll from all nearby South Africans. A couple other people intervened to get the two men away from each other, we were finally able to exit the plane, and that was the end of their altercation. Needless to say, I was pretty happy to get off the plane at this point.
Although the man’s words cast a bit of a dark cloud over my first day in South Africa, I am happy and very relieved to say that was the first and, so far, last time I’ve heard any talk of African vs. Afrikaaner, apartheid, or anything of the sort in a confrontational manner. I’ve seen countless friendly exchanges between black and white South Africans and heard only minimal talk of anything suggestive of apartheid’s divisive legacy. While it’s undeniable that the apartheid era left a blemish on this country, what’s quite clear is that it is fading with every passing day and South Africa is moving forward and leaving that period where it belongs: in the past.
