The Black Man's Place in South Africa by Peter Nielsen

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The thinking white man, who would fain be just to every one, is
perplexed by two conflicting emotions. He feels that the clean-living,
law-abiding, educated Native is a man not inferior to himself whom he
therefore ought to recognise as a fellow-citizen, but whenever he sees
this fellow-citizen aspiring or laying claim to the social recognition
that involves contact with white women he is filled instantly with wrath
which he cannot justify to himself and yet cannot suppress. It is easy
to see that where instead of common courtesy and mutual recognition from
one another of two sections of a community, constant irritation and
ill-will result, there the existence of the whole is threatened with
disaster. Under such conditions we must expect, not parallel progress,
but strife and enmity; not peace, but a sword.

The Jews may be cited to show how a separate and peculiar people may be
able to live together with other races without either clashing with or
being assimilated by these but we must remember that the ethnic
difference between the Jews and Europeans are too slight to sustain
serious and lasting race-antipathy. Parallelism, when applied to the
Native problem of South Africa, is clearly nothing more than the old,
plan-less drift continued in the pious hope that human nature will
sooner or later change into something better than what it is to-day. But
human nature will not change. We must never leave passion out of
account. If we recognise love we must recognise hate also as a moving
force of mankind. Neither must we overlook vanity and arrogance. The
white man, being human, will not cease to be vain and ambitious, he
will not cease to feel the hatred that comes from the fear of losing
possession of his mates, and possession is the natural man's definition
of love. Where there is a sense of possession there will also be
jealousy and hate, and it will only be by securing the white man in his
sense of racial integrity that peace and good-will can be made to last.

Territorial separation of the home-life of the two races is the only way
by which parallel development can take place. Some of the Native leaders
who have opposed this policy have done so in the belief that their
people might eventually be able to prove and enforce their claim to full
racial equality, but they have not realised that this claim will be
denied always on physical grounds, and not on considerations of moral
worth. These leaders mean well but they do not see well. Smarting under
the pain of their treatment they do not perceive that the real issue is
one of unalterable physical disparity.

The hardships and disabilities under which the educated Native suffers
in the Northern Provinces of the Union and in Rhodesia are patent and
serious. It is hard that a civilised man may not travel in his own
country without a "certificate"; it is hard that he must do only rough
or menial, but always ill-paid, work when he is capable of doing skilled
and well-paid labour; it is hard that when he is allowed to do skilled
labour he cannot claim the wages of a skilled labourer; it is hard to be
denied always the privileges of a civilised existence for which he has
proved himself fit and worthy; it is hard to be treated always as an
inferior and an alien in the land of his fathers; all this is hard,
but--'tis the law, written and unwritten, made and enforced by the
dominant race, and there is no reason to think it will be made less hard
as the pressure of black competition increases.

But if good and ample land can be set aside in the various territories
of spacious South Africa in which the Natives can live and move without
let or hindrance; in which they can do what work they like for
themselves and for their own people; in which they can engage, according
to their individual desires, in all kinds of trades and commerce without
the prohibition of the white man's colour-bar; in which they can earn
the wages that are governed by the laws of supply and demand only; in
which they can build up after their own fashion courts of law and
political councils for themselves; in which, _in fine_ they can live and
work out their own salvation, unhurried and unworried by strange and
impatient masters, then, surely, the Natives of South Africa will have
gained a great gain, far greater than any they can ever hope to win by
pitting their undeveloped strength against the organised resistance of
the whites.

The policy of territorial separation, which is now part of the law of
the Union of South Africa,[27] is the only policy that will make
possible a home existence for the Natives in their own homeland, for we
know that, however educated and however worthy the civilised Native may
become, he cannot hope to find a home, or to feel at home, among the
whites. Rightly or wrongly, the whites have banged, bolted and barred
their doors against the blacks, and neither moral worth nor educational
qualifications will serve to open them. But in their own areas the
Natives will have their own homes and their own home-life, without which
human existence is indeed miserable. Those among them who long for the
privilege of private ownership will be able to acquire land in freehold
in localities set aside therefor, while those who cling to the old ways
will be allowed to continue as before under their old system of communal
land tenure.

With freedom of movement and action under a minimum of European
supervision and control the Natives will, in their own areas, have full
opportunity and scope for the development of a home-civilisation of
their own along lines similar to, if not identical with, those by which
the Europeans follow their separate ways. It is a heroic plan, and it
will demand great sacrifice from both peoples, but who can doubt that
the end will be worth the effort? The Natives may in some places have to
leave the land where their ancestors are buried, and the whites will, in
many places, have to accept the price of expropriation for land and
houses hallowed and made precious by effort and memories, but the great
general gain at the end will undoubtedly be worth all that must be
surrendered now. This policy is the only one that holds out hope of
peace and happiness for both races. If the fears and objections that are
being raised by a few Natives and by individual Europeans here and there
are allowed to frustrate this, the only practical plan so far devised,
the future generations of both white and black in South Africa will
assuredly curse the day their fathers wavered and failed to make the
only just and fair provision that could be made.

To those, who for religious reasons feel doubtful about the
righteousness of a plan that denies to the Natives the privilege of
social equality which is implied in the ideal of the brotherhood of man,
I would quote the words of Paul who, when speaking at Athens of the
separation of the sons of Adam, said that God "hath made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath
determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitations,"[28] for, whether we take this statement to be the inspired
utterance of a holy apostle, or simply the reasoned opinion of an acute
observer, we must admit that the words convey the experience of the ages
that races which are physically dissimilar tend naturally, and
therefore, rightly, to dwell apart within their respective racial
boundaries.

Some people have professed to be afraid that the territorial separation
of the two races will tend to consolidate the Natives, and thereby
foster animosity towards the whites which may eventually lead to open
war, but this fear seems to have no ground in reason, because it is not
proposed, nor, indeed, would it be physically possible, to segregate the
Natives by themselves in one great area. On the contrary, it is proposed
to dispose of the Natives, as far as possible, according to present
geographical and tribal conditions, in several and separate territories,
so that race-consolidation of a kind inimical to the whites will
naturally be less likely to occur where the Natives live as separate
tribes, speaking their different languages, than where, as in the
Southern States of America, the Negroes have English as a common medium
for the expression of a common race-interest.

Other people, again, are in doubt as to whether the Natives, as a whole,
approve of this policy by which their future existence is to be shaped
and determined. The answer is contained in the words of Sir William
Beaumont, in his report of the findings of the Native Lands Commission,
which gathered evidence from all concerned in 1916, where he says "The
great mass of the Native population in all parts of the Union are
looking to the Act (the Act providing for territorial separation) to
relieve them in two particulars--the first is to give them more land for
their stock, and the second is to secure to them fixity of tenure."[29]
Regarding the Natives of Rhodesia I am able to say that all the elderly
Native men with whom I have spoken about this subject--and I have
conversed with a large number--agree that the policy, as outlined in the
Native Lands Act and the Native Affairs Act of 1920, as I have explained
it to them, is good and sound.

It is true that certain prominent Natives of the educated class have
protested strongly against this policy, but it is not true that these
men have spoken on behalf of the Natives as a whole; indeed, it is safe
to say that the vast bulk of the Natives of South Africa have even now
no clear knowledge of the legislation that has been made recently in the
pursuance of this policy. The protests that have been made from the
Native side, moreover, have been directed against the hardship caused
through harshness in carrying out the Act in certain places, and against
the relative smallness of the areas proposed for Native occupation, and
not against the principle itself, and there can be no doubt that the
statement quoted from the Report of the Native Lands Commission conveys
the true feeling of the large majority of the Natives.

These are some of the objections that have been raised to the policy of
territorial separation, but the gravest danger to the successful working
of that policy remains to be mentioned. It is the possibility that the
cupidity of the whites may lead them to remove their black neighbour's
landmarks in the event of the discovery of new fields of gold or other
valuable minerals within the Native areas. The danger of such a lapse
from the righteousness that exalteth a nation can only be averted by the
constant exercise of the public conscience of the whites themselves.

No reasonable person will expect that this policy will do away entirely
with all the little troubles that arise from the clashing of opposite
racial interests. In the white areas the Native, who can come there only
as a labourer or visitor, not as a settler, will remain subordinate to
the whites, but his unavoidable competition in trade and industry may
nevertheless lead to friction now and then, and the continuance of the
present pin-prick policy of enforcing humiliating pass-laws and similar
racial restrictions will certainly lead to trouble. But if tolerance and
honesty prevail in our councils we shall be able to adjust and settle
the many questions that are bound to arise from time to time through the
juxtaposition in the industrial field of the two immiscible elements.

But I must come to an end. I have tried to show that there is good
reason for accepting the Bantu as the equals of Europeans in every
respect save past achievement, but that because of unalterable physical
disparity, and not because of any mental inequality, the whites and the
blacks cannot live in peace and good-will together in one place,
wherefore it follows, as a necessary conclusion, that territorial
separation is the only way to lasting peace and happiness in South
Africa. I say, therefore, that the black man's place in his own country
must be assigned not below, nor above, but apart from that of the white
man, for that which nature has made separate man may not join together.
I have endeavoured also to show that there is good reason for believing
the Bantu to be no less capable of adopting and adapting Western
civilisation than other races which in the past have risen from rude
barbarism to high culture, but here I admit that the full proof of my
belief must be given by the Natives themselves.

The difficulties in the way are many and serious, but if we of the
power-holding race remain true to the great principles of justice and
fairness which have guided our forefathers in their upward path we shall
not go astray. So long as we remember the lesson of history voiced in
the saying of the Romans "As many slaves so many enemies" we shall
refrain from the means of repression which have always reacted adversely
on the repressors; we shall realise that we cannot set artificial
barriers in the way of the civilised Native if he proves that he has the
capacity for going higher and the will to try, and we shall learn to
treat him, not as a slave, nor as a child, nor yet as a brother in the
house, but as a man. The Natives can in fairness demand no more, the
whites can in fairness yield no less.

_Printed by_ CAPE TIMES, LTD., _Cape Town_.--S6420.

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FOOTNOTES

[1] Article on Anthropology in Nelson's Encyclopaedia. The "gnathic
index" is said to show that Europeans and Bushmen are orthognathous.

[2] "Man and Woman" by Havelock Ellis.

[3] "The Mind of Primitive Man" by Franz Boas.

[4] "Children of the Slaves" by Stephen Graham.

[5] "Anthropological Notes on Bantu Natives from Portuguese East Africa"
by C.D. Maynard, F.R.C.S.E., Statistician and Clinician to the South
African Institute for Medical Research, and G.A. Turner, M.B., B.Ch.,
Aberdeen D.P.H., Medical Officer to the Witwatersrand Native Labour
Association.

[6] "The Growth of the Brain" by H.H. Donaldson, Professor of Neurology
in the University of Chicago.

[7] "The Mind of Primitive Man" by Franz Boas.

[8] "The Antiquity of Man" by Arthur Keith, M.D., LL.D., F.R.C.S.,
F.R.S.

[9] "Ancient Hunters" by W.J. Sollas, D.De., LL.D., Professor of Geology
and Palaeontology in the University of Oxford.

[10] "Anthropology" by R.R. Marett.

[11] "The Antiquity of Man" by Arthur Keith, M.D.

[12] "Initiative in Evolution" by Walter Kidd, M.D., F.R.S.E.

[13] "The Antiquity of Man" by Arthur Keith, M.D.

[14] "The Growth of the Brain" by H.H. Donaldson.

[15] "Social Environment and Moral Progress" by Alfred Russell Wallace,
O.M., D.C.L., Oxon.

[16] "The Varieties of Human Speech" by Edward Sapier, in Smithsonian
Institute Report for 1912.

[17] "730 Sechuana Proverbs" by Solomon T. Plaatje.

[18] "Throwing the Bones" is the usual form of divination practised by
the Natives in Rhodesia.

[19] "What is Civilisation." Article by Professor W.M. Flinders Petrie,
in the _Contemporary Review_ for January, 1921.

[20] "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli.

[21] "Children of the Slaves" by Stephen Graham.

[22] _Der Christliche Pilger_ of 9th May, 1920, and _Volklinger
Nachrichten_ of 14th June, 1920.

[23] "Children of the Slaves" by Stephen Graham.

[24] "The Mind of Primitive Man" by Franz Boas.

[25] "The Colour Problem" by Sir F.D. Lugard, in _Edinburgh Review_ for
April, 1921.

[26] "The Black Problem" by Professor D.D.G. Jabaou.

[27] When General Smuts introduced his Native Affairs Bill in the Union
Parliament in May, 1920, he said, _inter alia_, that he hoped that under
a policy of territorial separation, which was now the law of the land,
it would be possible to carry out the idea of parallel institutions for
the Natives by means of which they could deal with their own concerns.
In the course of his speech General Smuts also said "the Pass laws do
the Whites no good and are intolerable to the Natives." The Native
Affairs Act of 1920 provides for the establishment of a permanent Native
Affairs Commission, and for the Creation of local Native Councils or
conferences of Native Chiefs and other representatives for the
discussion of all questions affecting the interests of the Natives. In
explaining the nature and scope of this Act the Prime Minister said that
more study and investigation, and more consultation with the Natives
were required before it could be said that the areas suggested by the
Beaumont Commission were fair and proper.

[28] Acts 17--26.

[29] Native Lands Commission. Minute by Sir W.H. Beaumont.

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