Desmond Tutu (1931-2021)

Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela (Forbes)

Whether or not "systemic racism" exists in America today, it unquestionably existed in the deep South for the majority of the 20th century. But the racism in America paled before South Africa's apartheid, a society built entirely around racial distinctions:

The implementation of apartheid, often called “separate development” since the 1960s, was made possible through the Population Registration Act of 1950, which classified all South Africans as either Bantu (all Black Africans), Coloured (those of mixed race), or white. A fourth category—Asian (Indian and Pakistani)—was later added....In practice, this act and two others in 1954 and 1955, which became known collectively as the Land Acts, completed a process that had begun with similar Land Acts adopted in 1913 and 1936: the end result was to set aside more than 80 percent of South Africa’s land for the white minority. To help enforce the segregation of the races and prevent Blacks from encroaching on white areas, the government strengthened the existing “pass” laws, which required nonwhites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas.

The South African government ruthlessly suppressed any challenge to its authority by the blacks who comprised two-thirds of the population. Into this parlous atmosphere stepped Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on December 26th at the age of 90:

With his friend and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, he is credited with leading the charge against a white-minority government that was guided by a policy of racial segregation, known as apartheid. Still, after the African National Congress came to power in the 1994 democratic elections, he criticized the party for graft and greed...

As a bishop in the apartheid era, with police brutality roiling the country, Mr. Tutu went from township funeral to township funeral preaching for peace. He served as general secretary of the South African Council of Churches from 1978 to 1985, and his status in the religious community offered him protection from the apartheid government.

Sometimes Mr. Tutu’s sermons left people laughing; other times in silence. Once, he dove into a frenzied mob to save a suspected police informer from being burned to death. The crowd had thrown a gasoline-soaked tire around the man’s neck and was about to throw him into a burning car before Mr. Tutu pushed through to stop the killing.

Preaching at Grace Cathedral in 2011 (SFGate)

Latter-day critics of Archbishop Tutu fault him for the corruption and disastrously managed economy that arose in South Africa after the black population took control in the 1990's. IMHO, he was too astute a student of history not to have recognized the danger of overthrowing an evil government (cf Saddam's Iraq), but the potential benefits outweighed the risk.

He did speak out against abuses by the African government post-apartheid, and did not seek money or power for himself once the revolutionaries won. He was a man who put his life on the line for his principles and never stopped doing so. R.I.P.