By Selwyn Brown
Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed saviour of white South African farmers, has as soon as once more injected himself right into a scenario he neither understands nor has the ethical authority to talk on. In a current assertion, Trump condemned South Africa’s land reform efforts, calling them a “large human rights violation” in opposition to white South Africans. However who’s going to inform Trump the reality? Who’s going to remind him how these white South Africans bought that land within the first place?
Let’s break it down. South Africa, a rustic the place practically 90% of the inhabitants is Black, nonetheless has over 70% of its land managed by white South Africans. These are the descendants of colonial settlers who arrived uninvited, who waged battle in opposition to indigenous African nations, who stole land, who constructed their wealth on the blood and backs of Black South Africans. They didn’t come as peaceable neighbours trying to coexist; they got here with weapons, chains, and an insatiable starvation for domination.
And but, as we speak, when South Africans search to reclaim what was stolen, white South African farmers cry sufferer. They demand compensation for land that was by no means rightfully theirs. Let’s be clear: Land reform shouldn’t be a criminal offense. Taking again what was stolen shouldn’t be a human rights violation. The actual violation is centuries of systemic land dispossession, apartheid, and ongoing financial exclusion that Black South Africans proceed to face.
Trump, a person whose personal presidency was constructed on racism, fearmongering, and white nationalism, has the audacity to color white South Africans as helpless refugees in want of American safety. This is identical Trump who spent his first weeks in workplace deporting 1000’s of Black and brown migrants—lots of whom had lived, labored, and paid taxes within the U.S. for years. Their crime? Not having the “complexion for cover.”
But, for white South Africans, Trump is very happy to roll out the purple carpet. Why? As a result of their whiteness makes them extra deserving of empathy in his eyes. As a result of their struggling—actual or imagined—suits neatly into his narrative of white victimhood. As a result of to him, white folks can by no means be the oppressors, solely the oppressed.
Effectively, right here’s a information flash: White South Africans should not victims. They’re settlers who’ve lengthy benefitted from an unjust system. They’re the descendants of those that dedicated unspeakable crimes in opposition to Black South Africans. And now that the tide is popping, they need to rewrite historical past and paint themselves because the wronged occasion.
To them, I say: Be grateful. Be grateful that South Africa shouldn’t be asking for again pay on the generational wealth you amassed on the backs of the oppressed. Be grateful that you’re not being requested to compensate for the stolen minerals, the financial disparity, and the centuries of injustice you and your ancestors perpetrated.
And in case you really really feel unwelcome? Go away. Pack your baggage, take your privilege, and flee to the U.S., a rustic constructed on stolen land, Black labor, and Indigenous genocide. You’ll match proper in.
And to Donald Trump? Keep out of South Africa’s affairs. When Black South Africans had been combating for his or her freedom beneath apartheid, you had been silent. Once they wanted worldwide allies, you had been nowhere to be discovered. South Africans fought for his or her liberation with out you, and they’ll resolve their land points with out you.
The times of unchecked colonial entitlement are over. The land belongs to these from whom it was stolen. The one human rights violation right here is the centuries-long oppression of Black South Africans.
So Trump, preserve your “generosity” and “foresight.” South Africa shouldn’t be your enterprise.
#SouthAfrica #LandReform #DonaldTrump #Apartheid #Colonialism #JusticeForAfrica #BlackEmpowerment #EconomicJustice #AfricaRising
