A black South African learns not to hate A black South African learns not to hate By Mark Mathabane For me, Black History Month is more than just a time to celebrate black achievements and culture. It is also a time to reflect on what I can personally do to help heal the racial divide. Lately, I've found myself thinking a lot about forgiveness, in part because President Bush mentioned forgiveness in his inaugural speech as one of the key ingredients needed if we are to become one nation, and in part because forgiveness has been central to racial reconciliation in my homeland of South Africa. People tend to view the racial divide as caused by others.
Blacks blame whites for it, and whites blame blacks.
Seldom do we see how our own attitudes and behavior may contribute to the problem. It is no secret that racial oppression teaches the oppressed to hate. Often the hating begins in childhood, as it did in my case. I was 5 years old when I began hating white people. For a long time, I didn't even think they were human, capable of such emotions as love, caring and empathy.