Honorary White Read Online Free PDF Page A

for a Black in this society. I’m sure I’ll learn nothing if I’m preoccupied with my own comfort and sensitivity.”
    â€œBeing insulted and abused won’t help either. If you want to know what it’s like for Blacks in this society, talk to them. Ask them. They might not tell you, but ask them just the same.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t they tell me?”
    â€œThey might not trust you.”
    â€œI’ll take that chance. Could you introduce me to some of them?”
    â€œI don’t know that that will help you. Some of them talk with me, but I’m not sure that they trust me. Don’t blame them. In their position I might not trust me either.”
    â€œIn New York, I was told that you are perhaps the only White in Parliament who speaks on behalf of Blacks.”
    â€œYou were told wrong. I speak up against repressive governmental policies. I speak against the arbitrary way in which those policies are imposed on our citizens, black and white. I speak against house arrest, banning and jail sentences for those who criticize the Government. I speak against disenfranchisement of all Blacks. Actually, I think it would be truer to say that I speak against the inequities in our society rather than for any particular group.”
    â€œBut I heard that Blacks are more favorably disposed to you than to other Whites.”
    â€œYou’re very kind.” Again that quick, lively smile. “Although, come the crunch, I don’t know that that would save me. Anyway, I don’t think I can be much help with introductions. At this time, most politicians are busy in their constituencies getting themselves ready for the opening of Parliament next week in Cape Town.”
    â€œI plan to visit Cape Town. Mr. Englebrecht promised to arrange meetings with the Foreign Minister, the Minister for Bantu Affairs, and, if possible, the Prime Minister.”
    â€œFine, then you’ll be well taken care of. Anyway, phone me when you’re there and we’ll have lunch together or something.”
    We were joined by Helen’s daughter, son and daughter-in-law, and Helen’s husband. The children ran in from their play to be fussed over and conversation became general. I learned that the son and daughter were both living and practicing their separate professions overseas because they preferred the freer societies of Britain and the United States. Dr. Suzman, a slight, graying man, said little, yet there was an aura of strength about him. Perhaps he supplied the anchorage which secured and sustained Helen.
    In time, the other guests arrived and we were introduced. Most of them were Afrikaners, members of the dominant white group, supporters of the Nationalists, the political party in power. I had no idea whether Helen had told them much or anything about me to prepare them for the encounter, but I immediately sensed their effort to appear cosmopolitan, able to consort easily with anyone. The handshakes pumped a bit too hard, the greetings a shade too hearty. The few other guests were British, that is, they were of British rather than Boer extraction and proudly English-speaking. I’d heard that there existed a wide philosophical gulf between these people, their common whiteness notwithstanding. Perhaps there is a real difference, but apart from the somewhat heavily accented English of the Afrikaners, to which my ear quickly became attuned, they appeared the same to me. White.
    â€œTell me, Mr. Braithwaite,” I was asked, “what’s your impression of our country?” A stocky, florid man in, I guessed, his early fifties, well-groomed, well-rounded, exuding an air of substance. He had been introduced as a banker, and looked the part, although his grip as we shook hands was strong and forceful and suggested he spent as much time outdoors using his muscles as indoors using his banking skills. His round, pleasant face seemed accustomed to smiling easily as if his