Charisse Zeifert

Racism will consume us until we start tolerating one another


It began with a now notorious Facebook comment by Penny Sparrow likening black beach-goers to monkeys, and most recently surfaced in the form of "kill a Jew" graffiti at Wits University during the #FeesMustFall protest.

It would seem that for many, the best way to respond to any form of racism is by answering in kind.

Such tit-for-tat abuse has merely seen the anger in our country being fuelled further, with the South African Hate Crimes Commission cautioning us not to "fight racism with racism".

Have we, as a nation, become so desensitized and unconcerned about the hurt we cause each other, thinking that "anything goes"?

Following the Wits graffiti incident, the Vuvuzela, the Wits student newspaper, posted the story on its Facebook page.

In response, someone posted in the comments section, a negative caricature of Jews, a sinister image of scheming evil and corruption of the type used by the hateful regime of Nazi Germany to justify its genocide against the Jews in Europe.

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