Apartheid Museum

Yesterday, we visited the Apartheid Museum. It wound around various corners telling the story of how Europeans came to South Africa and how society moved to the point of apartheid in the mid-1900s to its dissolution in 1994. It is a sad story from whatever perspective one looks at the history because of how people devalued others and chose not to see ways to work together or see each others’ inherent worth. It is also a story of tremendous reconciliation as the leaders worked together to bring about a more just society without the violent ends that could have errupted.

I am struck by the way that we often do not think of the larger systems at work. I am sure that there were many people who lived in Apartheid who did not approve of it or were indifferent but did not do anything about fighting against it, either because they did not care enough or did not have enough time or desire or knowledge how to fight against it. Furthermore, sometimes we benefit from injustice and do not see the injustice and how it affects us. What systems do I benefit from that cause someone else to suffer?

For the past few weeks I have been thinking about a poem that I read several years ago and rediscovered recently. The poem was written by Martin Niemoller, a pastor in Europe during World War II. It goes as follows:

“They came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

It makes me wonder if I would have spoken up if I had lived in South Africa during Apartheid. But even more so, it makes me wonder what are injustices that I see that I do not speak against?