Dear "white" South Africans

Modibe Julius Modibe
Johannesburg, South Africa

Dear "white" South Africans

I'm writing this open letter to you because I want to be as brutally honest as possible and I hope you'll enjoy it!

After the bloodily assassination of Chris Hani our beloved country was on the verge of a civil war, this was a time where the black majority endured so much pain, disrespect and humiliation and were just fighting to be accepted into THEIR OWN country among other things and guess what? They STILL found it in them to forgive and move on.

It hurts me that even after 21 years of democracy a black man still feels like a foreigner in his own country, a black man still gets looked at funny every time he enters a restaurant filled with white people, that's if he's lucky enough to even get in, and if looks could speak he'd probably be asked "hey sir, are you LOST"? 


Black professionals STILL get tortured in the workplace and black kids who attend "white schools" are still told not to speak their barbaric home languages.

Now the difference is whenever a white man walks into a restaurant or a party filled with black people he'd be treated with respect In fact we (black people) would go out of our way to ensure that he's comfortable because that's who we are!

I want to point it out that nowhere in the world but South Africa do you find minorities owning the most land, getting paid more than their counterparts, and owning a huge chunk in the economy leaving peanuts for the majority of people to try and survive on and I really don't blame you for this. I'll be honest, our government has been to kind to our oppressors and that's a fact.

All I'm saying is that after all black people have endured in the past and are still going through EVEN TODAY the least you could do, well some of you, is show a little more respect. It worries me even further that most white South Africans only think that South Africa began in 1994 and what happened before that is totally unnecessary, most have the decency to come out and say "well I wasn't there during apartheid so what" Fact of the matter is ALL white South Africans heavily benefited from apartheid and that's a fact we can't shy away from.

I guess it's true what they say, " as long as people own your land,economy and your mineral resources, they'll always dictate your destiny.

To conclude all this, some of us are willing to help grow our country together but if you're not willing its fine, you are more than welcome to leave our beautiful country the same way Jan Van Riebeck came into it!


The statements, comments, or opinions expressed through the use of IGNITE THE YOUTH are those of their respective authors, who are solely responsible for them, and do not necessarily represent the views held by the entire society of IGNITE THE YOUTH.