In Upfront I found an article that made me feel conflicted. This article was about a white South African family (the Hewitt's) who moved into a poor, black based village and tried to see how they lived. I was conflicted to whether or not it made me feel happy or sad. It was so controversial. On one hand it was good that a middle class family cared about the issue of the matter of poverty but on the other hand it was sad and disappointing that there was such a big racial divide in South Africa. This article had many perspectives to which you could look at.
It made me feel good that although there was such a divide between white middle class and poor black South Africans, a white family risked leaving their good happy life to go live in the small poor village. It was so touching that although the divide is so strong a middle class white wanted to sympathize and experience what they had to go through. Ena Hewitt stated "we live in a bubble, we wanted to get outside that bubble". This really stood out to me as it showed that they wanted to see the other half, to experience the grief and everything else they are experiencing.
On the other hand, it was upsetting. When the Hewitts arrived in Memelodi, once the only urban neighborhood blacks were allowed to live in, there was so much shock from everyone. It showed the dramatic racial divide. It was so sad to see that when black and white people mixed it was shocking, strange, and discomforting. This is sad after living in New York. In New York black and white are no different, racial issues exist at times, but it's not strange or shocking or discomforting. And to hear that that kind of divide is going on around the world, it's really upsetting and makes me wonder why nothing is being done. Nelson Mandela made such a big impact on racism in South Africa yet it still happens. Especially in these small villages, there is so much envy or hatred from the past and it still lingers. It's upsetting to see this.
Overall, I'm conflicted with this article. There were times where I felt happy and content with the good deed the Hewitt's were doing but then there were others where the racial divide made me feel so naïve about the world as well as upset over the fact that racism or divide still lingers in parts of the world. In the end we saw that the Hweitt's succeeded to settle in, get out off their bubble and be accepted, but who knows what other villages just like this have the same issue. This article was conflicting but overall I liked it and learned a lot.
