It is difficult to propose an idea that is simultaneously insane, hilarious and repugnant. Whilst it seems that just about anything Trump says is going to find that intersection, the idea of granting refugee status to white South Africans fleeing genocide has got to be the clear winner at this point.
I am a white South African who lived in South Africa for over 50 years. To get ahead of the nitpickers, and for the avoidance of doubt, let me say that I don’t think black South Africans are all blameless, precious petals or that all the pre- and post- actions of the African National Congress (ANC) are above reproach. Far from it.
I also concede that South Africa’s history is complicated and that its problems are massively complex. There is enormous nuance, but Trump has painted his picture with extraordinary broad brushstrokes and, appropriately, I will respond similarly.
Finally, whilst this letter is from my pen, it is informed by considerable reading from, and some discussion with, business, political, civic, non-profit and religious leaders who each garner a significant constituency. There’s seems to be a sizable consensus in opposition to Trump’s views, albeit stated with varying levels of vociferousness.
This is my opinion, but it is, at least, somewhat informed and, I’ll wager, significantly more informed than Trump’s personal opinion.
Trump alleges Afrikaner discrimination and state sponsored racially motivated genocide to such proportions that Afrikaners deserve refugee status.
As context, here is a massively condensed racial history of South Africa over the last 400 years.
Europeans first settled in Africa in 1652 as employees of the Dutch East India Company to establish a refreshment station.
From 1795 to 1910 South Africa was a British, and very briefly a Dutch, colony. The non-colonial population did not fare well.
From 1910 to 1994, South Africa was largely under self-rule with a government comprised almost entirely of white South Africans.
During this time, from 1948 to 1994, the National Party was in power and proceeded to institutionalize white supremacy and black oppression via legislation collectively known as apartheid (an Afrikaans word that means “separateness” or “apartness.”).
This next sentence is a long one because it needs to be: Under apartheid, access by blacks to where they lived, employment, legal representation, health care, marriage, inter-racial relationships, freedom of movement, public facilities, sporting teams, religious institutions and education was severely restricted. The black educational curriculum was publicly touted as equipping blacks to merely serve whites as the “hewers of wood and drawers of water.”
Labor opportunities for blacks were unskilled and extremely demanding. The wealth of South Africa was in no small part built on the backs of the blacks. Blacks had no vote at all. Resistance was confronted with violence and brutality. It is not for nothing that apartheid is now considered a crime against humanity.
By 1994, and the end of apartheid, South Africa was by design the most economically unequal country in the world. Only 36% of black adults had completed primary school. Black unemployment was 10 times that of whites. Whites, 13% of the population, controlled 85%–93% of the land and 85% of the household wealth. Blacks, 76% of the population, owned 7%–13% of the land and even less of the wealth.
Inequality on this scale creates massive social disruptions through crime and breeds political extremism rooted in desperation. South Africa faced a massively complex problem but restorative action was required to shift some economic activity, and wealth, to blacks.
The ANC response was poorly conceived, ineptly executed and slaughtered by corruption. By 2023, whites were 7% of the population and owned 72% of agricultural land and 70%–80% of private wealth. Blacks were 80% of the population and owned 4% of agricultural land and less than 10% of private wealth (black ownership of JSE-listed capital was on the order of 1%). The South African newspaper The Daily Maverick contended this month that 40,000 Afrikaners own half of South Africa.
Without doubt, South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world. No debate on that. The question asks how the violence is distributed? Whites (7% of the population) account for less than 2% of murder victims. It is very difficult to determine what percentage of the “white murder” total relates just to “white farmers.” Some common views seem to suggest that “white farmer” murder rates could be as high as the national average. The twist in the narrative occurs because white murders attract more attention and coverage than black murders.
Here’s a different perspective on the reality of white genocide.
Fun South African fact: There is a town in South Africa called Orania, which is exclusively for white Afrikaners. No blacks (no kidding!). Orania is entirely privately owned (land and property), meaning the town can legally restrict residency. All prospective residents go through a screening process. Applicants must show they are committed to Afrikaner self-determination, speak Afrikaans, and uphold the town’s Christian, culturally conservative values. Guess who gets in?
Now, if you were at risk of genocide (quite a serious threat in anyone’s book) and there was a safe place to live that represented the epicenter of your ethnicity, wouldn’t you move there? How serious is this risk if, facing genocide, you simply couldn’t be bothered to pack up your car, drive down reasonably good roads with plenty of gas stations along the way and hundreds of restaurants selling beer, burgers and KitKats to join your ethnic brethren in a totally safe town with residence and economic opportunity for you and your family.
I know you abandon your stuff, but isn’t that what the refugees had to do anyway in coming to the USA?
So as this has absolutely nothing to do with Afrikaners, what’s it really all about? It is clearly merely yet more pandering to Trump’s base who have been told over and over and over again that they are under attack from feminists, gays, trans, blacks, Muslims, Jews, Marxists, globalists, atheists, socialists, the media, the judiciary, immigrants, communists, radicals, drug dealers, murderers, the woke and, of course, Satan (to name just a few).
MAGA are unquestionably under the impression that they are the most persecuted people in the world. It’s a miracle that they can make to the shops to stock up on beer and bullets. Trump’s message is clear: “If I can reach halfway across the world to ‘save’ people like you, imagine what I can for you here in America!” Desperate people need authoritarian leaders.
It’s just pressing on MAGA’s persecution complex which is foundational to their identity. The South Africans are just puppets in America’s weird theater of grievance.
Frans Bicker Caarten
Park City