The shared struggle between Black South Africans and Black Americans: Where is the generational wealth?
A lack of generational weath places Black Americans and Africans in the same boat
By Mona Austin
(The Slice): Black South Africans and Black Americans share the challenge of being divided from their counterparts by a gaping wealth gap. In South Africa, much like in America, Blacks built the country, but do not have the economic power to control it. While Black Africans gained control of the government in 1994 when apartheid fell, Afrikaners retained economic strength. There remains a wealth gap despite the large population of Blacks there (80%) as Whites inherited more business and land. Without a balace of resources along wit governmental control Black Africans will always have less power and so it is in America.
There are over 100 countries on the continent of Africa. It is a land rich with natural resources that intruders stripped from natives. European colonizers paid little or nothing and used Black labor to develop various countries on the continent, which gave them systematic privileges that continue to have an impact today. But Africa as a continent is growing as a younger swath of natives operate with a more global focus through the use of technology. Coupling justice with the educational and national abilities of Africans, this generation can propel the continent forward and enable it to recuperate from centuries of economic setback.
In South Africa in particular, "social homeostasis" is evident. Homeostasis is defined as the ability or tendency to maintain internal stability in an organism to compensate for environmental changes. It is demonstrated when the human body maintains the same body temperature despite the temparature changing in the atmosphere around it. On both continents Blacks are surviving but may not be flourishing on the same socio-economic level as other races around them.
The Time magazine article "South Africa Wealth Gap Unchanged Since Apartheid, Says World Inequality Lab" provides further proof of how far Blacks are behind Whites:
The richest 10% of the population own more than 85% of household wealth, while over half the population have more liabilities than assets, the report showed. That gap is higher than any other country for which sufficient data is available, the group added. The richest 1% in South Africa have likely increased their share of wealth since the end of apartheid. . .
After apartheid ended, racial tensions over agricultural land distribution disparities between White and Black farmers have been a longstanding national issue in South Africa as an example of the stagnation that is caused by Blacks not being able to take advantage of their own land. Industrialized areas throughout Africa similarly have a conflict over shared ownership was outsiders that have invested in the development in areas are also stakeholders.
In 1994, in a farmland distribution initiative 30% of white-owned farmland would be given to the disenfranchised black farmers to equalize the deep racial inequality lingering from the Apartheid regime. However, national statistics show that in 2017 the white minority — which makes up 9% of the country, still held 72% of the agricultural land. (Source: Africanews.com)
In sum, although Black South Africas became free, without an adequate distribution of wealth and resources there is still a struggle for equity. There is an on-going clash in the racial hierarchy Blacks continue to press for more financial parity. Many Whites feel Blacks are bringing the country down.
African Americans seeking reparations can look at the experience of Black South Africans as a cautionary tale, perhaps. Economic justice alone does not produce the necessary adjustments to racist norms that are systematically embedded in a society. Sharing in power structures along with the accumulation of generational wealth, Experts say closing the wealth gap ca be achieved by business ownership, personal budget management, saving and investing -- in sort, financial literacy.