Roy Medley - South Africa

Today we received an extraordinary glimpse into South African history. It began with a visit to a national shrine built by the apartheid regime to honor the voortrekkers- the Boer settlers who fled the British and pushed north into tribal lands. The monument celebrated these folk heroes and became a shrine to the permanency of apartheid, a ruthless system of segregation imposed in 1945 when the British ceded rule to the National Afrikanner Party.

Later in the afternoon we met with Dr. Frank Chikane who serves as head of staff to the president of the Republic of South Africa. In planning for this trip, I had asked that we be able to meet with someone who could reflect on the remarkable efforts at reconciliation in South Africa. Dr. Chikane, an ordained minister and former General Secretary of the Council of Churches of South Africa, had been active in both the freedom struggle and in the building of a new South Africa.

Many of the things he said shed new understanding on this volatile time in South Africa's history.

• During apartheid, the dispersion of South Africans throughout the world gave them a valuable perspective on various political systems and international systems. Thus, there was an incredibly informed and prepared cadre of black leaders.
• They were also gifted with a group of selfless leaders, such as Mandela, for whom years of imprisonment had not generated bitterness but a will to birth a new social order to benefit all.
• They also had the benefit of learning from both the successes and failures of post-colonial African countries.
• Unlike segregation in the US where a minority was oppressed by the majority, in South Africa it was the minority who oppressed and exercised absolute control through the police over the majority.
• Afrikanners, unlike the British and others, had no other homeland than Africa. That meant their future was linked to South Africa's future
• During the civil struggle, neither side was interested in destroying the country, therefore the infrastructure of the country was not harmed.
• When the struggle for equality was won, both sides sat down at the table and counted the cost of what must be done to preserve the nation. This involved compromises such as keeping former president de Klerk on as a vice-president of the country because that was what was necessary for a smooth transition. The overriding concern was the good of the nation as a whole.
• The Truth and Reconciliation process was envisioned as a way of holding accountable those who had been involved in apartheid while not bogging the nation down with a long judicial process which might effect strict justice but could never effect reconciliation. "We were not willing to sacrifice the future for the past," he said.

These were powerful words because Dr. Chikane had been targeted for elimination by the apartheid government. Their attempt at poisoning him was unsuccessful. Now, in his current position, he is charged with the care of retired presidents of the country including those who enforced apartheid and sought his death. Reflecting on the incredible ways in which the country and its leaders have sought to deal with former oppressors with grace, he said, "When our great grandchildren hear these stories fifty years from now they will not believe them."

As we sat with him in his office, which were the very offices from which apartheid had been conceived and implemented but now serve as the offices from which a new future for all South Africans will go forth, I was struck afresh by what a story of redemption this is. And I wonder, how do we apply these lessons in America where the offenses of the past and the problems of the present still keep the wound of race raw and bleeding? What can be learned from South Africa that can help reconciliation occur in Jena, La? Neither cheap grace (pretending as though no wrong has occurred) nor the demand for strict justice (the accused black students will not be found to be perfect saints nor will the accused white students be found to be utterly demonic) bring about reconciliation. There has to be a way that transcends either cheap grace or strict justice. There needs to be a way that the harm can be owned. As another has said, "without metanoia our only option is paranoia." And the injured must be free to forgive, for as Desmond Tutu has said, "Without forgiveness there is no future." This could become the sacred task of the churches of Jena: to assist that community to move to a new level in facing the dis-integration of their community.

Do we in the American Baptist Churches have the courage within our own fellowship to own the fact that we have no other place to go and to deal more forthrightly with our future as a racially diverse community? Can we do the same with our theological diversity? Can the work of reconciliation within us become a light to others even as South Africa has become a symbol of worldwide hope?

This visit has placed within me a desire to bring a group of ABC folk to South Africa to explore these issues with our sisters and brothers here for we have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, God making his appeal through us. (II Cor 5:16ff)