Freedom for All

"We were not fighting to free someone else, we were in fact fighting for ourselves, we were struggling for our own rights, the right to be free citizens of a free country, that was the answer, and the only way we could achieve our own true freedom was by helping to destroy the system of white domination that as crushing the whole country and denying us all our humanity, black and white." ~ Albie Sachs in Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter

Albie Sachs walked into the room with a dozen or so people and the bright camera lights humbly and yet at ease. He sat in his assigned chair and APTN interviewed him for twenty minutes or so. The journalist asked if he had any final words, and his response was simply, "Do you think I might have a cup of coffee?" His casual sense of humour peeked through at that moment after the intensity of the interview. He joined us at the table at that point to begin his discussion with those of us who were traveling to South Africa in a few months.

As he settled into the chair across from me, I realized I already had quite a bit of admiration for this man, having gotten half way through his book, Soft Vengeance. I studied his face, fascinated by the scars there. One long one splashed across his face and a myriad of marks from the shrapnel that hit his body when the car bomb exploded. I am a tactile person and for some reason I had a deep longing to reach out and touch his face, perhaps in a moment of healing, or of a moment of wanting to be healed. I am not sure that there is a separation in that, but rather a combination of the two. He speaks of his body and the journey after the bomb with such brutal honesty. Most of us never arrive at a place of seemingly loving such a wounded body and yet, here is this man who appears to.

Within minutes he has begun to tell us that those in the human rights movement must keep a certain amount of vitality in life. All I can think of are the portions of his book where it is clear that he is overjoyed to be alive. He speaks of his work regarding same sex marriage in South Africa and how doing away with the word marriage for everyone would have created an equality of the graveyard and what he wanted to create was an equality of the vineyard. I am aware that I find his ideas fascinating and am enthralled by his articulate nature. This man is not a saint but his spirit is compelling. He has my attention and I believe in his words and how I am called to be a better human.

We could have kept him there for hours. I had a number of questions--or perhaps more accurately comments of affirmation for what I had been reading in his book. I wanted to sit and learn from this man to be less judgmental, more compassionate, and more vulnerable.

I believe I am called to engage in the goal of freedom for all. This week has been a difficult one for me in the Deaf Community. Sometimes on the time line I think we take steps backwards by decades instead of forward in baby steps. This week had a few moments like that and I find myself tired in the struggle. Moments of such deep oppression and ignorance that leave me speechless wear away at my soul. I cannot fathom how people do not see how hurtful they are being with their actions or comments. Sachs is on the mark with the thinking in his quote. None of us are truly free while some of us remain chained and treated unfairly.

Peace,

Suzanne