Still being in an altered state of mind due to my current condition, I think the passing of Tutu didn't hit me as it would have had things been "normal". Not to say that his passing is insignificant. I was very much into the situation in South Africa and more of a Steve Biko and Pan-African Congress fan than an ANC fan. Being youthful I gravitated to the whole "spear of the nation" rhetoric.
There will be those who disapprove, I'm not looking for approval. My position has long been that if you don't get angry, possibly "wish them all dead" (in reference to the white South African nationals) angry at the plight of black folks in that country at that time, I'd think you don't really care.
Fast forward to after the end of Apartheid and the whole Truth and Justics commission. Honestly I thought it was a cop out. You let people get off so long as they confess to whatever it is they did? On both sides?
How do you do that? How do you judge the actions of those fighting FOR liberation in the same light as those who fight for oppression? Even today I struggle with that. However; for Tutu this was about univeral law. Universal humanity and that those principles should guide every and any side. Honestly I think something else motivated that.
Like others at the time I couldn't understand why there wasn't a "clean sweep" of the SA government and an aggressive land reclamation endeavor a-la-Zimbabwe. I couldn't understand it because I was, like many others entirely ignorant of the situation.
I saw a documentary about Mandela's prison time which featured interviews with other political prisoners and it was then that I understood. Mandela and his comrades came to understand that they could not "kill de-white people" and still have one of the most advanced countries on the continent. The natives had, by and large none of the expertise needed to run such a franchise. Hence the desire for revenge and other feelings that were well studied by Frantz Fanno that could lead to national collapse had to be avoided.
This is what I think that commission was meant to do. I think it worked to a great extent though only a fool would not recognize the killing of white South African farmers as racial revenge. To see how badly that can end up, simply look north to Zimbabwe which would very much like a return of their white farmers.
So in a sense Tutu helped to avoid a violent racial purge in South Africa. Again, not to say everything is a crystal stair. I'm older and wiser now. The fires of revenge doused by discernment, something Tutu had and implemented.
Thank you Tutu for your service however imperfect.
