Theresa contemplates the intersection of race and class

First thing we did when we arrived in Johannesburg was go to a Steak House in Nelson Mandela Square.

Theresa at Trump's Grill House, Mandela Square, Sandton

 In class and with my co-educators we have been constantly talking about race, class, their intersection and the very apparent disparities that exist between the white, upper class and the black working class in Cape Town.  Cape Town, a city fondly referred to as the Mother City by South Africans, is famous for the inequalities that persist and remain and endure almost two full decades after the end of Apartheid (This is a hotly contended, highly controversial statement; with the government and ANC insisting that dramatic and important improvements have been made, while much academic literature shows that income inequality may have actually gotten worse in the past twenty years http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/apartheid/seekingsp2.pdf.)  Don’t worry though I see that mirror, and as a reality check just want to remind of the huge academic achievement gap between whites and blacks, and whites and Hispanics in my home state of Connecticut, it’s easy to point out others short comings and didn’t want us to start thinking to highly of ourselves, we have a ton of work to do as well.

Theresa in search of reasons to be optimistic

Partially coming here, has disheartened, exhausted, disparaged me; the tasks seem insurmountable, the goals seem unattainable, and for the first time in my life my optimism seems naïve and childish.  I have had to do a lot of growing, and reflecting and deep breathing exercises to deal with the harsh realities we face as a human race about the future, about what my future holds.  Then in a Steakhouse in the suburbs of Jo’burg part of my optimism was restored.

Downtown Jo'burg

In class we have talked about how the media’s presentation of this Pan-African, homogenous “country” really does Blacks, Coloureds, Indian, etc a disservice by just showing them in squalid poverty, carrying rifles and Machetes, with malnourished children hanging off their mother’s exposed breasts.  I’ve found that social media and the internet does a lot to sustain this thinking (See KONY 2012) but also works to dispel a lot of the fallacies we hold.  On the internet one day, I found a project called “Middle Classes in Africa” (http://www.classesmoyennes-afrique.org/en/) which combines photojournalism and academic research looking at the growing middle class in Africa. They traveled to five different countries to get a glimpse at what it means, what it looks like, to be a middle class in Africa.

Maybe it is the spaces I spend my time in or the inevitable limitations that exist as being a short term visitor, but in Cape Town I haven’t been able to see or find an apparent middle class or the spaces that they occupy.  Recently a Capetonian shared with me the frustrations that she holds with the government and private sector for building spaces for short-term tourists that are expensive and not accessible to the common public.  She lamented, an entire city built for the rich and tourists, the most desirable city in the world  (as long as you don’t live here). 

When I mentioned this to Marita and some of the other adults I have met on this trip, some replied that my observations held some validity (some also challenged me and said that I was just not seeking out the right places, and that there is a vibrant, middle class- I was thankful to be challenged) and many responded with wait until you get to Jo’burg there you will see a lively, eclectic middle class.   And in Jo’burg, on our first night, in that Steakhouse, I saw it. I saw the middle class space that I haven’t been able to find in Cape Town, I saw black couples and families in those spaces, and I let go of the breathe I had unbeknownstly held the entire time I’ve been here, maybe been holding since I really became aware of the intersection between race and class.  In my town in middle class America, there is almost no presence of black people, so growing up I’d never really gotten to see black middle class.  I’m grateful to have this opportunity to be in Cape Town, along with the opportunity to be surrounded by people who are willing to talk to me about, race, class and gender; because the first step for me, and all of us is recognizing and acknowledging that wealth distribution in both the United States and South Africa, has a pretty clear color divide.  The second is celebrating when spaces, areas are non-homogenous, bringing together many different people.  We need to have a vision for the future; everyone being fabulously wealthy is implausible, and everyone being meagerly poor is inexcusable, so there must be some middle ground, some way for us to co-exist in strength and cooperation, and that might just be in the middle class.