It seems to me that a lot of the negativity and Afro-pessimism indeed comes from the South African-born. Nostalgic whites use present difficulties to justify apartheid for themselves, but I think there’s a lot of sincere disappointment and despair as well.

I found that the question of “why I choose to live here” shifted my focus from all the crap in the media to my own experience, which actually has its daily dose of joy. Who knew, hey?

Levinas, speaking of the Holocaust says that man had “lost his identity”, meaning European humanity and civilization. Steve Biko, speaking of oppressed black people, said that it’s these people who have “lost their personality” who are the only vehicle for change.

When you talk about these murders, it is most often one terribly vulnerable person attacking another terribly vulnerable person. I don’t think there’s a lot of mystery about how that comes to be.

What I wonder is how we can all get our human identity back. Here’s the full Biko quote, from I Write What I Like:

“It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realise that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality. The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth.”