The Miseducation of California’s Children: Lessons From Apartheid South Africa

The peaceful transition of power from a brutal regime of white minority rule to a democratically elected South African government represents one of the greatest political victories of modern times. I participated in that event, which ended 46 years of institutionalized racism, as I stood in line to cast my ballot in South Africa’s first democratic election, joining millions of other South Africans to mark the end of apartheid.

Mandela’s election as the President of South Africa was the culmination of his remarkable journey struggling against the apartheid regime, which he did by collaborating across color lines and by believing that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it—black and white alike. And despite the suffering that he had endured under apartheid, he chose forgiveness over anger and encouraged black South Africans to do the same, not to forget their pain, but to heal and look to the future.

Today, educators in the state of California are preparing to convey the antithesis of Mandela’s teachings to their students. According to the state’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, which is based on Critical Race Theory, all white Americans are inherently racist oppressors and all black Americans are inherently victims of that oppression, regardless of their individual actions. The source of their identities as oppressors and victims, it teaches, is American colonialism from centuries past and the view that all societal structures and institutions are racist legacies of that past. While most negative references to Israel have been removed from the curriculum, there are still some references that refer to Israel as a colonialist endeavor as well, portraying Palestinians as victims of Zionist oppression.

Whereas Mandela judged individual people for what they did, the authors of this curriculum want to teach children to categorize people by their ethnicity and judge them accordingly— by who they are. And while Mandela looked to the future with hope and gratitude, California’s educators want to teach students to focus on days gone by—and on today— with anger and bitterness.

While Mandela looked to the future with hope and gratitude, California’s educators want to teach students to focus on days gone by—and on today— with anger and bitterness.

Before they ratify this curriculum, the members of California’s Department of Education should take some time to learn about Nelson Mandela and about South Africa’s path to democracy. They will then understand what a misguided approach Critical Race Theory is for the curriculum, and what a disturbing message it sends to students.

They will learn about the key roles that individual South African Jews, Zionists, and Afrikaners played in the struggle against apartheid and in supporting Nelson Mandela on a personal level. And they will recognize that it was the choices made by individuals who refused to be bound by their identities, and the enactments of their self-determination that helped guide the country toward democracy.

For example, when Nelson Mandela became a lawyer, he was employed and mentored by a Jewish attorney in Johannesburg named Lazar Sidelksy, who was a pioneer in the employment of black lawyers.

They will hear about Arthur Goldreich, a key figure in Umkonto We Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress. Goldreich purchased Lilieslief Farm for the organization, which they used as their hideout. He was arrested, and then broke out of prison in one of South Africa’s most dramatic prison escape stories, after which time he fled to Israel. Goldreich was also a Zionist, who had served in the Palmach, the elite unit of the Haganah, during Israel’s War of Independence, where he received his military training.

While Goldreich and another Jewish activist, Harold Wolpe, escaped prison, eleven other ANC members stood trial. In 1963, Nelson Mandela and the other ten stood trial for 221 acts of sabotage against the South African government. Three of them were white, and all were Jews – Lionel Bernstein, Denis Goldberg, and Bob Hepple.

California’s educators will also learn about the prominent Afrikaans lawyer, Bram Fischer, who represented the defendants in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. Showing great courage as he defended them, Fischer risked revealing the fact that he, too, was a member of the liberation movement. Despite his identity as an Afrikaner, a member of the group that was oppressing the country’s black majority, and in spite of his wealthy upbringing, Fisher chose to join the struggle, and Mandela and the other members of the ANC embraced Fischer as a friend and a colleague for him doing so.

These and other stories from those who struggled against apartheid South Africa weave together a fabric of humanity and compassion— of Ubuntu, a Zulu term which means “I am because we are.” They demonstrate that what defines us is not the color of our skin, but our actions and our mitzvoth—our deeds.

Those are the lessons California’s students should be learning. They should not be learning to identify people according to their race, to mark them as oppressors or victims, and then live in the world with anger and fear. That was the view of the apartheid regime, and it cannot be allowed to poison the impressionable minds of American students.

Melissa Landa, Ph.D is a former professor of education at the University of Maryland, and the founding director of Alliance for Israel (www.alliance4israel.org).