I know an extended family of South Africans whose ancestors migrated from India in the 19th century. As a group they love South Africa, and only one has moved away (to America, married to a German physicist who also emigrated here. Some of them are fiercely patriotic South Africans.
But they tell me about horrible crimes happening so often around them--and sometimes to them or friends or relatives--that there's an undercurrent of despair in their conversations.
Their experience gibes with South African violent crime statistics, which are ten times higher than the United States.
These people are all descended from manual labors imported by the Brits. Now they're all educated middle class people--who live in guarded enclaves if they can afford it, and all keep looking over their shoulders constantly whenever they go out.
And they tell me how antagonistic the majority of the black majority have become towards them over the past 20 years or so. And these aren't even "white." (I put that in quotes because actually Indians are Caucasians--i.e. "white.")
I'm guessing Indian-South Africans generally know about the mass expulsion of all Indian-descended Ugandans from Uganda by Idi Amin (Mira Nair's file "Mississippi Marsala" deals with this).
Of course, as Mr. Cohen points out, there are valid historical reasons for the crime, the hostility, the corruption etc. And there are valid reasons to love South Africa--starting with the stunning landscape.
But if I were in my Indian-South Africans' acquaintances' situation...I'd leave. The UK, Canada, America, Australia could all work, along with other places as well.
Because historical understanding is cold comfort in the aftermath of a violent home invasion. Today it's too dangerous to live there, and there's little prospect of it getting safer in the next few decades.
Especially since the now-traditional African style of government--a kleptocracy--seems to have taken hold there.
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2 comments:
I always enjoy blog entries that expand my vocabulary: "kleptocracy" is right on the money when it comes to describing South Africa (no pun intended). I'm originally from South Africa (now a naturalized US citizen), and still have close relatives that live there. Everybody I know in South Africa has chilling stories related to the crime there. If not from a personal experience, it's 2nd hand information from another close friend. Unfortunately for many in South Africa, it's not always easy to leave. Simply dealing with the next unexpected hardship is often easier than uprooting an entire family, business, and leaving a network of friends. After waiting too long, many will find themselves with practically zero personal savings, and an even harder escape route if the South African government continues doing what it does best.
It's interesting to note that all the alternative countries you suggested were former British Colonies. OK, the UK was not a former colony, but you get my point. The anglo version of government has somehow managed to avoid the rife corruption and political disasters that much of the world sees, and our quality of life is so much the better for it.
I do hope your refer to yourself as an "African American" since you have more right to the title than 99.9% of the people who use it.
Though I have heard of white immigrants from South African who do so winding up on the receiving end of mucho self-righteous rage--pretty amusing, all things considered.
And yes, everything you say about the difficulties is true. My Indian-South African friend who lives here is on Skype with her mother and siblings and nieces all the time, and she rhapsodizes about South Africa to me all the time--when she isn't telling me horror stories.
Another Indian-South African friend is planning to move to France (for love) and she's told me about the enormous pressure her relatives have been putting on her not to go (she's the bedrock of her family).
They're all torn, no matter what they do.
Side note: as a native Californian, I know how much you can relate to the landscape, not just the people. When I travel to the Eastern US I feel like I'm in another country. I'm guessing then that South Africans--especially from Capetown and thereabouts--would feel most at home in southern to central California.
Especially since numerous South African plants now grow wild here, because the climate is so similar.
Good luck with your transplantation. I know how hard it would be for me to leave my native land.
OTOH if you saw "Schindler's List" it really shows this for Gernamy's Jews--and how putting off leaving wound up killing millions of them. I don't anticipate a pogrom like that in SA, but it's possible that a future ANC leader will decide to distract voters from his party's corruption by doing a Mugabe.
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