‘We Don’t Like Brown People’:
Why we still have to observe March 21st
By Dorla Harris

On March 21, 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa gunned down hundreds of peaceful demonstrators.  The protest was organized in South Africa by the Pan African Congress (PAC) members, who along with many other Black South Africans, were angry at the continued use of the passbook.  A passbook is a document that every Black South African was required to carry at all times and present immediately when police demanded it.  This document was required to contain the following information:  name, birth place, tribal affiliation, picture, serial number, proof of paid taxes, list of arrests, and monthly signatures from the employer.  To travel between cities, the countryside and to simply stand outside ones front door, the passbook was a prerequisite.  Without it, one could be imprisoned or fined.  It was a humiliating, degrading and abusive system that Black South Africans were tired of, along with the other atrocities that accompanied apartheid.

The PAC encouraged the affected South Africans to engage in a pointed peaceful protest, to go to local police stations without their passbooks and demand to be arrested. In Sharpeville, a large group of peaceful protestors gathered outside of the local police station.  This group contained several officials of the PAC and was not easily intimidated by the low flying aircrafts that had been used to disperse other similar gatherings outside police stations in the country.  Reinforcements were called in to manage this crowd, which was made up of unarmed men, women and children.  When the shootings began, there were an estimated 300 unarmed protestors and 300 armed police and 5 armoured vehicles. 

A door on one of the armoured vehicles slams, and is mistaken for a gunshot from the protestors.  Or protestors began throwing stones at the officers on the other side of fence.  According to some reports, an official order to begin firing was heard.  Whatever reason that can be held at fault as the catalyst that began the hail of bullets from the police into the unarmed and unsuspecting crowd, the result was 50 to 75 officers opening fire. Of the injured or dead, only 30 were shot in the front, the remaining dead and injured suffered so due to gunshots in their backs as they fled the area. 1

These are the official words of the final findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: The Commission finds that the police deliberately opened fire on an unarmed crowd that gathered peacefully at Sharpeville, on 21 March 1960 to protest against the pass laws. The Commission finds that the South African Police failed to give the crowd an order to disperse before they began firing and that they continued to fire upon the fleeing crowd, resulting in hundreds of people being shot in the back. As a result of the excessive force used 69 people were killed and more than 300 injured. The Commission further finds the police failed to facilitate access to medical aid or other assistance to those who where wounded immediately after the march. 2

The world’s reaction to this incident was outrage.  March 21st was appointed as Human Rights Day in South Africa and in 1966 the UN designated March 21st the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

On March 21st, 2009, we are living in a time when a Black man has been elected to one of the most powerful positions in one of the most powerful nations in the world. This makes it easier for people to fool themselves into thinking that racism no longer exists, or is not as bad as it was in the past.  Or worse, when victims of racism raise their voices, they are responded to with the sentiment: “Look who’s in the White House; you have no reason to complain.” Racism continues to exist in detrimental ways that continue to impact on the physical, mental and emotional safety of every person who does not belong to the dominant race.
  
In January of this year in the city of Vancouver, which is one of Canada’s most culturally diverse cities, a racist hate crime was committed in the early morning against a Pakistani man by off duty police officers from surrounding municipalities.  Reportedly drunk, and verbally abusive, the three off duty officers are alleged to have attacked Kiroz Khan after he failed to provide prompt directions to the first assailant.  Khan stated that the three men kicked him in the head, ribs arms and legs.  He stated he heard one of them say “We don’t like brown people, buddy” while he was being attacked.  Witnesses to the reported crime stated that the alleged assailants ordered them to leave the scene drawing on the authority that they are police officers.  When the Vancouver Police arrived on the scene, the men again repeated their rank and it was Khan who was handcuffed first.  It was not until a witness clarified that Khan was the victim that the appropriate arrests were made.  Two out of the three officers have been charged with assault and robbery.  The main officer who instigated the assault has been suspended with pay and the others have been reassigned to desk duties.  As one article on this matter states: they are “suffering the consequences.”   Because Khan was unable to identify which of the three officers made the racial slur, while he was getting repeated kicked about his body and head, no Hate Crime charges were laid. 3 This is a current example of the overt racism that people can easily condemn and shake their heads at in disgust.

But what are the mental and emotional impacts to seeing the front page of the local newspaper shout out in large bold font “WE DON’T LIKE BROWN PEOPLE” over a picture of a Pakistani man? The impact vary among the readers from my son, an eight year old Black boy who reads the headline with a question in his voice, to the white teenage passing the newspaper box on the way to school to the Pakistani woman waiting in line for coffee who glances as the stack of papers available for sale. 

This example is simply one recent incident among many, which demonstrates just how deep and layered racism is in our current communities, institutions and society.   Working to eliminate racism is a task that needs a daily commitment from everyone.  Racism must be first acknowledged to exist as a serious problem before any work can be done to deconstruct its presence.  March 21st is an important day in that it is a reminder to people around the world that the work to eliminate racism remains relevant and necessary.  This date also works to reassure people who have already dedicated their lives to this deconstruction that they are not alone and others worldwide know that this work is vital. Racism existed before the 1960’s, it exists outside of the South Africa and the Southern states, and it exists within many of our own homes.  We need to acknowledge this, see its negative power for what it is and humble ourselves enough to work each day between the annual March 21sts to honour the significance of this day.

Sources:
1Sharpeville Massacre http://africanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa-SharpevilleMassacre-c.htm 
2Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Vol 3, Chapter 6, October 1998.
3Vancouver Sun Mayor proud workers came to victim’s aid January 26, 2009 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Mayor+proud+workers+came+victim/1220641/story.html