The hood

Being a victim means you have suffered some injustice, something you did not ask for, and you are left to carry the impact. Trauma, real trauma, is created by moments of helplessness. And that trauma typically lasts for years and somehow morphs into your identity, dictates behaviour, and shapes your sense of safety in the world. Hectic stuff!

Most, when faced with such trauma, struggle with healing and ways to deal with this. I have also noticed a trend where victimhood as an identity becomes the avenue to deal with the trauma, becoming a core part of the identity. That identity can sometimes come with power or social leverage, hence why it is prevalent in today’s world. This here is when things get complicated, in my strong opinion.

There was an episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored where a panel was discussing whether a white genocide is happening in South Africa. The conversation veered into the topic of race-based legislation, which Ernst Roets, one of the panellists, strongly criticised. He claimed that the South African government had passed over 140 race-based laws, arguing that such laws had no place in a society that calls itself equal.

Dan Corder, another panellist, challenged him directly, asking him to name which of those laws were explicitly race-based. Instead of listing any laws, Ernst pivoted to South Africa’s education system, claiming it was weak and flawed.

That shift confused a lot of people. Many on the panel, and in the audience, felt his point was irrelevant, even evasive. The conversation quickly turned into a critique of his logic. Some saw it as a ramble. Others said it was a smokescreen. And for many, it came across as thinly veiled racism.

But I kept listening.

Beneath the offence, I noticed the thread he was trying to pull. His frustration was not just that the law required him to hire Black people. It was deeper. He argued that because of historical inequality, white students in South Africa still receive a superior education. And because of that, he claimed, Black South Africans are, on average, less equipped when entering the job market. So in his view, the law was not just about equity, it was forcing him to hire people whom he believed the system had failed.

I then asked my friend for his assessment of this exchange. He focused more on the racist remarks, which were all over the place, and missed the point that I picked up. I then related back to him my take. He mentioned that he did not pick that up and acknowledged that he already had a preconceived idea of what Mr Roets would be arguing and did not give me time to understand his point.

This happens all the time when faced with very critical information from someone who does not belong in the group. Shutting that part of our brain that forces us to only pick up information confirm of our bias is hard but knowing this can help. There can be more than one truth, and some things that contradict each other can both be true at the same time. A racist can have some helpful insights about some stuff. This does not mean you do not hold them accountable to their misinformed beliefs, but maybe find a way to understand their

point of view. As painful as that exercise can be, it can truly be helpful to the oppressed. Do not apologise on their behalf but try to use their assessment of you to highlight what are your blind spots that are created by your victimhood identity.