THINKING ABOUT RESTITUTION

THE HEART OF HAPPINESS

- PAUL SUTHERLAND

I AM AN OLD, WHITE AMERICAN living in South Africa. In Africa, I am seen by many here as a “White,” part of an evil tribe that took the land, culture, and souls of the continent’s original settlers; a tribe that makes me privileged the world over just because I am white. Now, restitution rages as an idea whose time has come, and an increasingly common belief is that anyone with non-native ancestors and some economic status—especially white people— owes something to those whose ancestors would be considered of the local tribe. I have been asked what I think about it.

Let me say first that I do not identify with the “White” tribe label. I see myself as part of a tribe that includes each person in the world. Seeing an individual white, Black, Muslim, or Republican person or any group as a cohesive culture is easier than seeing ourselves reflected in each person, each person being a unique child of creation. But such ease is not helpful in solving our real problems. Quite the opposite.

Secondly, I do believe we owe something. We owe the truth.

We owe taking the time to know the deep, long, hard, exhausting, nuanced, complex, and unknowable truth. An overused proverb sourced here as ancient African wisdom holds true everywhere: “A lie has many variations. The truth—none.” As a Professor at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, I could be tempted to create a story claiming that those words were first spoken in Xhosa thousands of years ago by a Thembu elder who just happened to be one of Mandela’s own ancestors. Making such stuff up is fun. But I owe the truth. And so do you. Such hard-earned wisdom is likely much older than any person anyone has heard of today.