A New Life for Some, A Painful Reminder for Others
In 2018, a group of 49 white South African farmers arrived at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. They were welcomed into the United States under a special refugee program. They claimed they were being persecuted and targeted in post-apartheid South Africa. The Trump administration agreed. To some, it looked like compassion. But to others, it was a quietly opened door for all the wrong reasons. Why were white refugees receiving priority when so many others, especially Black and brown people who had fled war and persecution, were being turned away? To many, it brought to mind an uncomfortable reality. America has long sympathized with white South Africans and ignored the plight of millions of people under apartheid.
Cold War Allies, Even When Unjust
During the Cold War, the United States chose its allies based on one criterion, the fight against communism. And South Africa with its white minority government sat well with the fight. Never mind that this government ruled through terror, segregation, and brutality. It was anti-communist, and that was good enough. Leaders like Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress were considered dangerous. Not because they believed in something, but because of whom they believed in. They were seen as threats by America, not heroes. And so, instead of supporting the people who were fighting for liberty, America sided with those who were taking it away.
The Arrest That Changed Everything, And Who Helped Make It Happen
Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962 by the South African government. It changed the course of history in South Africa. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. People do not know that the CIA supposedly tipped off the South African police. Mandela was not just arrested. He was handed over. This moment is more than a footnote. It stands for the length to which America was willing to go in order to protect its political interests by undermining the cause of justice.
More Than Politics, A Shared Way of Thinking
America’s backing of apartheid South Africa was about more than strategy. It was also about shared racial beliefs. In the 1950s and 60s, the United States even had its own civil rights battles. Segregation was even legal in a majority of states. Black Americans were still marching to secure the right to vote. In such an atmosphere, South Africa’s policy of apartheid did not seem so foreign to so many American leaders. Some felt sorry for them even. Vice President Richard Nixon once reportedly said that African leaders were merely “50 years out of the trees.” That is not just rude. It is a reflection of the attitude which enabled apartheid to be tolerated and justified. Others actually did more than talk. One was Millard Shirley, a senior CIA official in South Africa. He developed close ties with the security forces of the apartheid state. After he retired, he chose to stay on in South Africa. He even helped write training manuals for their spy agency. His story demonstrates how deeply ingrained those friendships were.
Voices That Refused to Stay Silent
But not all the people in America looked away. Many common people stood up. Students marched on university campuses. Churches held boycotts. Artists boycotted playing in South Africa. Activists called for economic sanctions. Their voices became louder. In 1986, Congress sanctioned South Africa. President Ronald Reagan tried to veto them, but Congress overrode his veto. This was a rare instance in which the government moved due to public pressure to do the right thing. That fight did not free South Africa in isolation but showed that people from all over the world cared. It gave hope. It told the apartheid government and the world that the world was watching.
When Compassion Has a Color
Today, as the United States welcomes white South African refugees with open arms but sends others back home at the door, it raises hard questions. Are we still making decisions based on race? Are we still more concerned with white pain than with people of color pain? No one is disputing these white South Africans are at risk. But when they are expedited and others are ignored, it is hard not to see the pattern.
History Doesn’t Remain in the Past
America’s troubled history with apartheid South Africa isn’t a chapter in a textbook. It is a picture of choices we made, what we tolerated when it came to values, and people we ignored. We can’t make the past different. But we can learn. We can choose to be honest. We can choose to ask better questions. We can choose to see all people as equally worthy of assistance, of hope, of humanity. Because history isn’t just something that happened. It is something we carry with us, and something we continue to define, day by day.
