Black clubs and things

More often than not, it bothers me when I find Black people having Black things, like black clubs, or black blog-rings, and so on. What really gets to me is the fact that it would bother me to find White people having White things, like white clubs, or white blog-rings, and so on. I'd rather see California blog-rings, or Moldavian clubs, and so on.

Mind you, it can very easily be argued that Black folks can and should do so. Any minority, for that matter. Otherwise how else can they turn around and beat the odds? How can they "help themselves" in the face of what they and their ancestors are enduring and have endured? Even in the face of that valid argument, it still bothers me that the label is colour rather than a region, or a common activity.

Besides, in my experience, especially in the United States, White clubs and many other White groups have been anything but positive. You can have your Black Student Association, for example, most of whose meetings and get-togethers will be about Kwaanza and a holiday for Martin Luther King. Your average White Student Association, on the other hand, would most probably spend its meetings and get-togethers telling racist jokes and chanting Nazi songs.

Which brings us back to the flipside of the argument about minorities needing perhaps to have clubs in order to better fend for themselves. And the flipside is of course that White folks in America have little to fend themselves against, so that when they do have a club its principal activity will certainly not be to fight for the recognition of St Patrick's Day or for the right to celebrate Columbus Day or something of the sort.

South Africa is the only country on the African continent where Black and White folks mix in a manner that can be compared to that of the United States, albeit with reverse population percentages. How does this kind of situation play out in South Africa? Do universities have colour clubs and unions? How was the situation before the first free election in 1994? How do White South Africans feel about Black groups?

Comments

[James Clark]

I suspect that it would follow similar logic to "white groups" in the US. Why, exactly, does the majority racial group need to form exclusive organizations based on colour?

Of course, since whites aren't an historically persecuted minority here, there really isn't any need for white clubs either.

The fact is that groups defined by racial requirements kind of beg the question... why?

At the end of the day, it is important to remember that South Africa prohibits expression of racism and the US does not.

[Rethabile]

"Since whites aren't an historically persecuted minority here, there really isn't any need for white clubs."
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Agreed. A minority status isn't reason enough to have a colour-based club.

"It is important to remember that South Africa prohibits expression of racism and the US does not."
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I need clarification on this one. The US really doesn't? Or is such expression merely tolerated, although illegal?

[Walton Pantland]

How do White South Africans feel about Black groups?
Most probably take the simplistic view that it's 'reverse racism', designed to exclude white people from the growing new elite.
Personally, as a White person I would like to be able to join Black clubs, and there is historical precident for this, with both the PAC and the Black Consciousness union federation Nactu accepting White members. White people can also be shop stewards in Nactu unions.
I feel that Mzansi is an African country and White people need to embrace that. If I joined a Black club or organisation, it wold be to demonstrate that the future is Black, though people of all races have a role to play.
As such I feel more comfortable with the BC tradition than the Alliance one.

[James Clark]

"I need clarification on this one. The US really doesn't? Or is such expression merely tolerated, although illegal?"

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Freedom of speech is guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the constitution of the United States. You can't discriminate against someone by race for things like employment, but you can preach as much racial hate speech as you want without getting into any trouble.

It is usually more legal than it is tolerated.

@Walton Pantland

I think the definition of a "Black Club" here is one which is defined by an exclusively black, "net swartes," membership that is more or less enforced. Neither the PAC nor NACTU would fit this definition. Aside from one being a political party and the other a trade union, they're much more of an African nationalist sort of thing than a racial thing.