The greatest gift we can give to our children and the future of South Africa is our own healing.
While South Africa has moved beyond apartheid, it has not moved beyond racial polarisation. Virtually every problem we face in this country is influenced by our legacy of systemic racism and the psychological trauma it has caused to people of all races.
Racial healing is not a new, woke, talk shop. It is also not a ‘how-to guide’ for do-gooders. On the contrary, racial healing requires diverse people of all ages to embrace the unique and challenging complexity of racial diversity and to forge a human bridge between multiple opposing truths that can peacefully coexist.
Only a sober admission of this complexity can help us heal from the open, festering wound of ongoing racism, which has left South Africa with the unenviable distinction of being the most unequal country in the world. This wound is not unique to South Africa; it is also a driving force behind the violent conflicts seen around the globe.
Ian Fuhr and co-author Nina de Klerk have crafted a powerful examination of the deep-rooted causes of ongoing racial polarisation in South Africa and propose a road map towards racial healing. The book is enriched by contributions from influential collaborators across various sectors, who share their authentic and often emotive perspectives on racial healing.
The Human Bridge is an ambitious but achievable vision of the future. If people are willing to familiarise themselves with each other’s life experiences and own up to their own fears and racial biases, to engage in authentic dialogue, South Africans can once again become an example to the rest of the world.
