Ripple of Hope

Kennedy’s Message
(Translated from Afrikaans)

     SENATOR KENNEDY did not utter the redeeming word which those who had brought him to South Africa had presumably hoped for. At the most he expressed appreciation for the standpoint they had adopted up till now and confirmed their conviction that a certain measure of support for their action existed in important circles outside South Africa.
     But although in moments of excitement they cheered over the expression of appreciation and the assurance of support, it cannot give them any lasting satisfaction. As thinking young men and women of South Africa they cannot in the long run be content only with approving gestures and sounds from abroad. They must realize, as Senator Kennedy in fact also intimated, that South Africa's problems must be solved in South Africa itself by the people of South Africa, and for that is necessary much more than merely support, moral or otherwise from abroad.
     Senator Kennedy did not presume to come and tell us how we should solve our relations problems, but he did indicate what he thought the final solution should be: “We must first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected between men within our own nations – barriers of race and religion, social class and ignorance.” Although he says that he does not expect us to apply the same methods as the United States, he nevertheless expects us to pursue the same ultimate aim as the United States with their immeasurably different circumstances.
     That was the central theme of his speech at the University of Cape Town, but, unlike so many of his other views, it elicited no applause. This could be due to more than one consideration., but sober consideration should make it apparent that it is no message that would cause applause in South Africa among people who – like those who constituted the greatest part of his audience – are taught to be intellectually honest.
     For intellectual honesty should make people realize that it makes no sense to try to press upon South Africa the obliteration of all differences, because it could only lead inexorably to chaos. Intellectual honesty commands people to make allowance for the reality with all the idealism, and the reality is that South Africa is inhabited not only by individuals differing from each other merely in the colour of their skins, but by different nations and national groups out of which one mixed-up whole cannot be created with the best will in the world.
     Intellectual honesty compels the people of South Africa not only to search for other methods than the United States in the realization of freedom ideals for all, but also for a completely different approach.
     In that they would be true to the requirement Senator Kennedy stated in his speech at Stellenbosch: “We must begin with the light ot reason – with fact and logic and careful thought unblinkered by the shades of prejudice and myth. In this fantastic and dangerous world we shall not find answers in old dogmas, repeating outworn slogans, fighting on ancient battlegrounds against fading enemies long after the real struggle has moved on. We must change to master change.”
     The prejudice and the myths, the outworn slogans and the enemies also exist in South Africa with some of those who invited Senator Kennedy here, and intellectual honesty commands them, as it commands everyone in this country, to dissociate themselves from it.
     The quoted words are perhaps the most important message which Senator Kennedy has so far expressed during his visit to South Africa, even if he himself does not regard it as the chief message, and even if this is not what those who invited him were waiting for.