Something like a ray of hope
I was saying to Miz Becky the other day that the Bushies have me right where they want me — I'm no longer surprised by anything they do, so my outrage levels are kept right around the apathy horizon.
It's nice, then, to start my day with a news item that reminds me that, first, it could be worse, and second, that even from that condition things can get better.
Multicutural Hub Restored in S. AfricaJOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Strains of jazz echoed through suburban streets Saturday as Sophiatown's former residents returned with a boisterous parade to reclaim the legendary black cultural hub wiped off the map under apartheid.
The destruction of one of Johannesburg's oldest black settlements more than 50 years ago came to represent the callousness and brutality of white racist rule. The new white suburb that emerged from the rubble of Sophiatown was named 'Triomf,' Afrikaans for triumph.
There was dancing, cheering, ululating and the odd tear Saturday as scattered residents returned to see Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo unveil a sign officially restoring the neighborhood's original name in bold black letters.
"'Triomf' meant the victory of white supremacy," Masondo told more than 500 people gathered under a white marquee in the heart of Sophiatown. "Let me hasten to add, however, that Sophiatown was never erased from the hearts and minds of its people."
Despite its overcrowded squalor, the close-knit community was a place where black, white, Indian and Chinese mingled freely on Johannesburg's western edge, It produced some of the country's most famous writers, musicians, politicians and gangsters.
International jazz stars like Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba cut their teeth at its Odeon Cinema and in the many illegal taverns. A magazine called Drum was a vehicle for emerging black writers like Can Themba, Lewis Nkosi and Es'kia Mphahlele.
Elizabeth Kallesen, a former resident, could not contain her excitement as jazz legends from Sophiatown's heyday in the 1940s and 1950s took to the stage. While others swayed and clapped their hands in time, she leapt to the floor and started swinging her hips like the young tap dancer she once was.
"I feel I can dance the whole day because they are singing the songs from Sophiatown," the 64-year-old said with a grin.
[ . . . ]
A few current residents also emerged from their homes and were drawn into the festivities.
Among them were 37-year-old Stander Kotze, a struggling white mechanic, and his two young children. Kotze, who grew up in the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement, hesitated to come but was delighted by what he saw.
"You get spoon-fed to hate other people just because they are different," he said. "But this is change. It's beautiful and it can only get better."
[ . . . ]