What African-Americans Can Learn from South Africans and Vice Versa

Robinson, Randall, Dinkins, David N., Jones, Elaine R., Hatcher, Richard G., Ebony

Since the 1890s, Black Americans have demonstrated an affinity for South Africans. As part of the global family of the African Diaspora, we naturally are drawn together by our shared heritage and common bonds. As South Africans rejoiced throughout the recent inaugural festivities, across the Atlantic, Blacks also celebrated with tears of joy and empathy Throughout the last century, Black Americans have extended the hands of brotherhood and sisterhood to South Africans, and have been rewarded with a friendship that only grew stronger throughout the struggle for liberation.

It was a struggle that was all too familiar to American Blacks, whose ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and forced into bondage. in the 1950s and '60s, as we fought discrimination at home, South Africans were rebelling against the cruelty of apartheid. Our common histories of racial oppression pushed us closer together.

Throughout these years, South Africans learned from our poets, activists, politicians and business leaders, and African-Americans were influenced, in turn, by the struggles of South African artists and leaders. The South African revolution and the …

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Publication information: Article title: What African-Americans Can Learn from South Africans and Vice Versa. Contributors: Robinson, Randall - Author, Dinkins, David N. - Author, Jones, Elaine R. - Author, Hatcher, Richard G. - Author. Magazine title: Ebony. Volume: 49. Issue: 10 Publication date: August 1994. Page number: 104+. © 1999 Johnson Publishing Co. COPYRIGHT 1994 Gale Group.

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