Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1986)
Entertainment Social dark age plagues blacks and whites “People are going to have to come to the realization that eventual ly the black man is going to come out on top.” - Beyers Naude - Black South African drill operator at work in coal mine. By Dave Holmes Part One of a Two part series. Dave Holmes’ interview with Alison Tedder will be con tinued in next week’s issue of The Print. Some things must be learned the hard way. Things such as “Don’t argue with a linebacker,” or “Buy gas BEFORE the needle hits E” come with experience. To Alison Tedder, an 18-year- old white South African, lessons like “When to take a stand” have come early. “I can remember, when 1 was younger, telling my mother that I thought apar theid was a good thing,” Ted der said. “She just looked at me and started crying. I think she thought she had raised a mindless idiot.” Tedder, far from “mindless,” now has a dif ferent opinion. “(Apartheid) is a silly theological idea, and a theology is what it is. Some Afrikaners actually believe it’s divine will that blacks and whites should be kept separate and will use select parts of the Bible to defend their position. They feel they are protecting the rights of the minorities and keeping ethnic groups pure. I say it's just stupid.” Page 4 Editor-in-Chief Tedder lives in suburban Randburg, several miles out side of Johannesburg, went to an exclusive, private high school, and is socially in the midst of the middle class. Her parents are both white collar professionals. She feels she’s provided for quite nicely. So why does Alison Tedder want to rock the boat? “My parents want me to keep an open mind about all things,” Tedder said. The high school she attended was very liberal and was open to all three of South Africa’s racial groups (black, coloured, and white). Tedder feels that by re maining objective a person can see what’s fact and what is not, what’s right and what is wrong. One thing that Tedder feels is wrong is the treatment of blacks in South Africa by their government. “In South Africa, whites must attend school until the age of 16, but blacks aren’t required to go at In contrast, white South Africans spend a leisurely afternoon lawn bowling. beyond the third grade and she thinks that this sets up a vicious cycle of ignorance and poverty among most black populations. The cycle goes like this: Black children don’t receive a decent education, so when they get older they have to take low-skill, low-wage jobs. Because of this, they have to have large families so that the children can go to work as soon as they are able and help support the family. To work, the children have to drop out of school, and, hence, don’t get a good education. This has gone on for genera tions, Tedder said. Education is one of Tedder’s pet peeves. “A lack of education is at the root of most of the world’s problems,” she said. “Well educated people are better understood than those who aren’t and they understand others better.” all. And the schools that they The lack of education do have are pitiful.” Tedder among people, especially when said that most blacks don’t get it comes to Americans trying to understand her country and its social system, is another thing that bothers Tedder. “Americans shoot their mouths off when they have no knowledge of what they’re talking about. But if they knew more about the subject (apartheid) and perhaps visited South Africa, then I think they’d be a bit more undecided as to why they think the way they do.” Ages.” The Dark Ages not only hover over the black peoples, but over the white as well, maintains Tedder. Sexual discrimination is wide-spread, she said, with most women getting paid less than men for similar types of work. Ideological deviations from the governmental standard of right-wing Republicanism is a punishable offense. While retaining her view on American opinion of apar theid, Tedder thinks that there are other factors besides ig norance that influence American thought on South Africa. She sees the American press in South Africa as ac curate, but single-faceted. “Say a group of my friends and I wanted to meet at my house and discuss socialism. If someone wanted to take the time to report it, we could be thrown in jail,” Tedder said. She also noted that “Das Capital,” by Karl Marx, is of ficially banned by the govern “(The press) portrays the ment. black man as a down-trodden, “A lot of things are ‘Of suppressed man which is par ficially Banned’,” she said. tially true. What they don’t An official ban, in its human understand is that the black implications, usually results in has no education, where the restricted movements and American black has quite a bit close monitoring of the in dividual by the government. in comparison. A lot of “If I were to give this type (blacks) don’t even know they are in a low position. Many of interview at home, and so can’t read the newspapers. For meone found out about it, I’d quite a few it’s like the Dark most likely be banned.” Clackamas Community College
