The Black Man's Place in South AfricaNielsen, Peter, active 1922-1937
History
The Black Man's Place in South Africa
Nielsen, Peter, active 1922-1937
Black people -- South Africa
I say, therefore, in answer to the question whether, without the full
fraternity which seems impossible here, the white and the black races
may not live together in South Africa in political liberty and equality,
that the trend of events leads to the belief that the established pride
of race of the whites, and the growing pride of race among the Natives
will conduce to voluntary separation wherever this is possible, and that
in this way the coming generations will contrive to live territorially
separate under a common governance, founded upon political equality and
liberty.
CONCLUSION.
The evidence before us leads inevitably to the conclusion that there is
nothing in the mental constitution, or in the moral nature of the South
African Native, to warrant his relegation to a place of inferiority in
the land of his birth, but the same evidence also leads to the
conclusion that the racial antipathy which prevails to-day will remain
unaffected by this admission, seeing that this racial animosity is
caused not by alleged mental disparity but by unalterable physical
difference between the two races.
It is important that this distinction be grasped for it goes to the root
of the matter. It is the marked physical dissimilarity of the black man
that rouses the fear and jealousy of the white man, and not any inherent
mental inferiority in him. And we must take human nature as we find it,
inscrutable and immutable as it is; wherefore we must reckon with, and
not hastily condemn, the imponderable purpose of a fundamental instinct
which is older than speech and deeper than thought, so that, although we
admit that this racial antipathy is not justified by logical reasoning,
we may nevertheless recognise it as a feeling grounded in man's inner
nature--in his heart, so to speak--hardening it against other men whom
he feels he cannot receive and entreat as brothers; in other words, we
may say that this feeling is not the result of ratiocination but of
forces that are deeper and more elemental than reason; that it is a
hardening of heart rather than a mental conviction, in which sense we
may apply the words of Pascal "Le caeur a ses raisons que la raison ne
connait pas."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account