Recently, the South African government barred the Dalai Lama from attending an antiracism conference in the country to "avoid undermining relations with China."
How ironic: A man who has dedicated his life to peaceful protest, non-violent activism and to fighting for human rights for all is banned from a country that espouses to represent the tenets of democracy, yet continues to function much like a socialist country.
How ironic it is that at the same time the Dalai Lama was being banned from the country in order to pacify China, the legendary human rights activist Dr. John Hope Franklin passed away.
His death is relevant because the memory of his life sheds light on the very issues that continue to plague America and South Africa as well.
Franklin's seminal work was the acclaimed book From Slavery to Freedom, but he also conducted historical research that helped Thurgood Marshall win Brown v. Board of Education.
Franklin's scholarship moved throughout the world, including South Africa, in which his research informed their new constitution when Apartheid ended. Even more recently, Franklin and Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped a multiracial group of students connect in the lauded PBS documentary Journey to Peace (2001).
In this documentary, the journey begins with the historic first encounter between Nobel Peace Prize winner Tutu and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Franklin. On Goree Island, the infamous former slave port off the coast of Senegal, the two meet and discover surprising truths about their personal, and their nations', struggles for racial peace. Joined by an international, interracial group of 21 high school students, together they engage in a series of unusually candid encounters on race and begin an emotional journey towards racial reconciliation.
Challenged by Tutu and Franklin, the teenagers directly, and at times emotionally, share their personal stories and confront their ethnic stereotypes about each other. Even though Franklin was in his late 80s when this documentary was filmed, he was still very much connected to ensuring racial equality across the globe. The documentary was so successful that the program with the students was replicated in the United States, starting with Washington, D.C. and then here in Charlotte.
I had the opportunity to work with Franklin on Peace Journeys Charlotte, a documentary short about the process of re-creating this exercise with high school students in the States. It was a collaboration between a number of groups including Nyala Hunt of the Charlotte Coalition for Social Justice, Johnson C. Smith University, then Ambassador to South Africa James A. Joseph, and the Levine Museum of the New South.
Franklin's reach was long and far, and he understood the interconnectedness of issues of power globally and locally. He used his expertise, energy and enthusiasm to continuously bridge the gap between local and international sites of contestation. Working with Franklin on this initiative inspired me to go to South Africa to learn more about that country, hence learning more about myself in the process.
While I was truly sad when I learned of his passing, I smiled a bit because even when leaving this life, his legacy reminds us of the necessity of the continuous fight against discrimination and for democracy -- as evidenced by the recent ban of the Dalai Lama from South Africa.
While people were dismantling the system of Apartheid that ravaged that country, many, including me, had the expectation that South Africa would be hyperaware of not following in the footsteps of their oppressors. It is becoming more and more apparent, however, that South Africa has not learned from its past, or ours for that matter, as it moves clumsily into the future.
Just last year, the High Court of South Africa voted to identify Chinese South Africans as black so that the ethnic Chinese could benefit from government policies aimed at ending white domination in the private sector. While there are only 200,000 Chinese people in South Africa, the idea that they could be discounted or left out of this journey towards reconciliation trumped their small numbers. They have the same opportunity to create better lives for themselves as everyone else. How ironic is it that China is now dictating who may and may not come to South Africa, which underscores the very tenets that Chinese South Africans were fighting against.
Tibet has been suffering since the Cultural Revolution. An estimated 1 million people have been killed, over 1,000 temples have been destroyed, their language has been banned, protesters are killed or subjected to long, harsh prison sentences, and the Dalai Lama has been exiled.
Why? The lack of religious freedom, which South Africa claims to represent, just like us. So many countries, including the United States, sit on the sidelines because of China's power and ownership within these "democracies," allowing them to run roughshod over the rights of many, including their own citizens.
As we remember the legacy of Dr. John Hope Franklin, let us not forget the Dalai Lama. Let's not forget that like Franklin, we are all citizens of the world, thus our experiences are our connections. Let's remember the work that needs to be done to keep his legacy alive and to ensure freedom and equality for all.
Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of communications and media studies at Goucher College and editorial director for RushmoreDrive.com.
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