Justice Albie Sachs:
African Freedom Fighter
By Joan baum, Ph.D.
It’s rare that students studying history get to meet
leading players in landmark events, but recently, at Facing
History High School (FHHS), a New Visions school on West 50th
Street, a group of youngsters—and then the entire class
of 108 9th graders—had a chance to see, listen to and
question South African freedom fighter Justice Albie Sachs.
The Justice, looking hale for his 70-something years, despite
prolonged spells in solitary confinement and the loss of an
arm and sight in one eye, when racist car bombers went after
him for his work on behalf of the African National Congress
(ANC), sits on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the
nation’s highest judicial body. As expressed by FHHS
Assistant Principal Gillian Smith, the thrill of the youngsters
meeting someone “who did that” is unique.
For the last ten years, Justice
Sachs has been sharing his professional and personal life
with Vanessa September, a handsome, articulate “colored” woman who, before the ending
of apartheid, would not have been able to live with Justice
Sachs in an area formerly reserved for whites, let alone pursue
her dream of becoming an urban architect. But she is
living proof of what the freedom fighters, black and white,
wrought in South Africa. Justice Sachs, who speaks of his life’s
work as a kind of moral imperative, said that he felt “privileged,” first,
because he had been able, as a white, to go to law school,
and then because he participated in the liberation movement
led by Nelson Mandela and the ANC. It was Mandela, in fact,
who appointed him in 1994 to the Constitutional Court. Those
were “tough days, tricky times,” he says quietly
of the years he spent fighting for justice in an all-white
court system. They were also also tough, obviously because
of the sacrifices of his own life, but incredibly, Albie Sachs
points out that others, mainly blacks, suffered more.
FHHS students had several opportunities
to hear this amazing couple, including a small “advisory group” breakfast
where they listened to Ms. September talk about the South African
school system and how it changed after apartheid into one curriculum,
one standard for all, though those who have money, black and
white, can opt to send their children to schools with better
resources and equipment than what some townships can offer,
an inequality she and Justice Sachs continue to address. At
a full assembly Ms. September led a slide-show presentation
of the housing boom in South Africa today, at one point directing
the pointer to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela had been
imprisoned. Did Justice Sachs see similarities between
the Holocaust and apartheid? Except for the fact that
Nazi Germany and South Africa were both “race obsessed,” there
is no need to compare horrors, he said. The Nazi regime was “overthrown,” apartheid
was “overcome.” Who was the biggest influence
on his life. “Me,” he smiles broadly, empty sleeve
flapping in the emphasis. He meant that his own experiences
were his influences, and that instead of looking to role models
youngsters would be better advised to look to themselves and
chart a path—to face history and themselves. What is
he doing now? Another smile—among other activities, he
is visiting American schools talking about the mission of the
South African Constitution and the need for reconciliation,
justice and dignity. Among his many fine writings, The
Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter should be noted, the
new edition containing a forward by Desmond Tutu.
FHHS was started last September
in conjunction with Facing History and Ourselves, an international
education and professional development organization whose
mission is to “foster
more humane and informed citizenry by examining racism, prejudice
and anti-Semitism” and to get students to “think
critically about their own behavior and its effect on the community.” Central
in this effort has been the Community Conversations series
dedicated to “Rebuilding Communities in the Aftermath
of Violence and Injustice” in which Albie Sachs and Vanessa
September were taking part, thanks in large part to the Allstate
Foundation, an independent, charitable organization” seeking
to promote tolerance, inclusion, diversity, and economic empowerment.” Clearly
FHHS students had an unusual and memorable example of the significance
of the name of their school.#
www.facinghistory.org
