Post-apartheid Namibia

Here is Namibia, the remnants of apartheid are at times very apparent. In Swakopmund, where I am currently staying, there are many indicators of the post-apartheid era. Some restaurants, bars, salons, etc. display signs that say “Right of Admission Reserved,” and some have bells which require staff to “buzz” patrons in. I have been told that these are sometimes used in a racist manner. Perhaps during apartheid, these measures were legal. After independence, these overtly racist practices were eliminated. However, in reality, the legacy of apartheid lives on. A World Teach Volunteer here was dating a white Afrikaaner who suddenly broke up with her for “being too nice to black people” after he saw her walking down the street with a black colleague.

As shocking as this initially sounds, it is important that we, as Americans, be very honest about where we are ourselves in our journey of race and reconciliation. Depending on where one lives or our individual realities, such overt racism may be less common and less accepted. However, in the U.S., many of our systems are engrained with institutionalized racism. Michelle Alexander makes a compelling case about this in her book, The New Jim Crow. Alexander argues that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration are systemic methods of enforcing legalized racism. Due to many factory and other jobs being lost during industrialization and globalization, some poor and often black individuals turned to drugs for income, and were in turn sought out and jailed for drug crimes at an extreme and disproportionate rate. Law enforcement agencies were rewarded for harsh crackdowns on drugs, and most arrests were of young black males. Additionally, black neighbourhoods were policed much more strictly than others. Today, the vast majority of our population’s inmates are young, black men. This exacts a tragic toll on African American communities and on our society as a whole.

For our Peace Corps Namibia ReConnect Conference, one of our trainers, another Peace Corps Volunteer, and I presented on white privilege and comparing and contrasting the Namibian and U.S. Journeys of race and reconciliation. This fostered a vibrant discussion on the topic. A main point of the session was how we, as people of privilege, also have associated obligations. We talked about the importance of being an ally, and using one's relative privilege to champion the common good. When I studied and worked in Kenya, this was a lesson which our professor artfully instilled in us. Here in Namibia, it is equally important.

Apartheid ruled Namibia only 23 years ago. Namibia is still young in terms of an integrated society. Perhaps Namibians can learn from the U.S.' struggle for race and reconciliation, and from our history of slavery, Jim Crow laws, civil rights, the war on drugs, affirmative action, and our own grappling with systemic and institutionalized racism. This is part of our work as Peace Corps Volunteers, to share the best parts of the United States and our culture, while being honest about our own societal flaws and challenges. We must work to build bridges and inroads of understanding between the U.S. and other countries. In turn, we will learn just as much from Namibians. We must also take these new understandings home, trading and exchanging the best parts of our cultures and ways of life, each mutually learning from our histories and the many lessons contained within our unique histories.