Thursday, September 11, 2008

3 Dead in Penis and Race Brawl

This is one of those ridiculous South African stories that saps my enthusiasm and decreases my hope for our so called "rainbow nation".

News24 reports that three men were killed (age 33, 40 and 57) and two critically injured in a brawl that begun after an argument about penis size between a group of white and Indian men in a Durban pub.

The incident alledgedly began in the pub's toilet after a man of Indian descent made a comment about the size of a white man's penis. The white man was using a urinal at the time of the comment.

The white man then returned to his friends and informed them about the comment. Insults were traded between the group of white and Indian men.

Five Indian men then left the pub and returned with firearms and opened fire on the group of white men.

Police said that the shooting was carried out with "precision style". Five men (two of whom are police officers) have been arrested as suspects in the shooting.

My f*cking head hurts just thinking about this incident.

Where is our ubuntu (African humanism)? Are we so damn cheap and uncivilized that lives can be lost because of the size of a racialized penis?

Was there not a point when any one of the men involved realized that the argument was bullsh*t and just dumb?

I'm running out of patience.

At times I feel it is useless to even try to understand. We were supposed to be so much more than the violent cesspool that is post-apartheid South Africa.

And yet we are not.

Onward!

***Update(September 13)***
Five accused get bail. Two of the men are brothers and police officers. They used their service weapons in the shooting. The accused claim that they were racially harassed and physically assaulted by the white victims before the shooting.

6 comments:

Dione said...

That will make you think twice about using a public restroom, lol.


Please use safety and caution. Guard the family jewels!


Have a nice day

Dione

Ridwan said...

You are too funny Dione :)

I guess it is best to just mind your own business and not start stuff that does not need starting.

You be well now.

Peace,
Ridwan

Anonymous said...

Maybe you could have blogged about something else!!! Who needs this kind of infotainment that benefits no one? We can get this from our televisions.

Ridwan said...

Anonymous you think 3 people dead and two critically injured in a race-tinged incident is
"infotainment"?

Wow, I wonder what you consider important and newsworthy?

It always amazes me how stupid comments like yours are always anonymous.

By the way, this story was not carried by SABC.

Ridwan

Rent Party said...

The story itself is odd and telling and the update makes it curiouser and curiouser.

On SA: I suppose one should have foreseen that after overthrowing a regime bent on destroying all sanity people wouldn't just recover. Still.

On getting caught up and reacting because you're at your wit's end: I've done it. This is not meant as a justification or an excuse, I'm just saying it because I've had that reaction emotionally to something in the last 24 hours and I am still recovering.

Ridwan said...

Thanks for your comment Rent Party. I know that you are a fan of Judith Herman (I am too).

Herman would agree with you that the trauma of apartheid cannot just be brushed aside by notions of healing, forgiveness, reconciliation (no matter how earnest and well meaning).

South Africans are damaged psychologically (many will be angered by this assertion).

The question of how much reconciliation we need to get beyond apartheid mania is one that stands.

I am not sure that it is possible inside the state the ANC inherited (essentially a settler arranged state).

That said, I absolutely agree that it is not wise to lose sight of what one is fighting. It is easier said than done.

We are human. And not all moments are covered by the big picture stuff. At times the package falls apart and we come undone ("wit's end").

And even as we may not want to get there again it is very likely.

But there is the 'redemption' of recognizing and avoiding more 'damage'.

I guess this is what Herman expects when she speaks of "confronting" ... it is the engagement that is powerful.

I wish you strength in your recovery. I expect as the minutes tick past the face of the incident you may find even more reason to feel stronger.

Be well my friend (and not too hard on your good self).

Peace,
Ridwan