A lot of the Teach With Africa program revolves around the deepening of our understandings of South Africa's complex history, and so they place a lot of real value on getting us out into the communities where the LEAP students live (Langa, Gugulethu, Alexandra, and Diepsloot) and also getting us into museums and other culturally important landmarks that contribute to our understanding. Today when we visited the Apartheid Museum in Joburg, and Wendy said, "We've got it. This is a part of your orientation," I think I understood even better what they want to be about.
The Apartheid Museum's brochure reads: "Apartheid is exactly where it belongs -- in a museum." I could not agree more.
The tour was long, and silent. I lost my crew after a short while, and did most of the touring on my own. There was a lot to read. A lot to take in. Reading about apartheid doesn't begin to tell you anything about the brutality of the separateness. The forced removals from townships, the Casspirs that became a daily occurrence in the townships, the dogs that they used to attack, the rallying of anger and energy and passion. You cannot just read about that.
I was most struck by the photography of Ernest Cole (1940-1990). He spent much of his life trying to document the horrors of the system of apartheid, and everywhere there was violence: in home brews, in tsotsis, in the schoolrooms (700 students with only 3 teachers?!). It was sobering, but I think it is important to remember. These are stories that must be retold.
I agree. The stories of human horrors must be retold. And they must be retold with humility. Because if not, we begin to think that we have now entered into an enlightened phase and can just move on. The impact of apartheid continues, passed on to generations. We can never pretend that these things are over because they no longer exist in law. Thank you.
ReplyDelete