The greatest gift we can give to our children, and the future South Africa, is our own healing. South Africa may have moved beyond apartheid, but not beyond racial polarisation. Virtually every problem we face in this country is touched by our legacy of systemic racism and the psychological trauma it has caused to people of all races.

Racial healing is not a new, woke, talk shop. It is also not a ‘how-to’ guide for do-gooders. On the contrary, racial healing requires diverse people of all ages to embrace the unique and challenging complexity of racial diversity and to forge a human bridge between multiple opposing truths that can peacefully co-exist.

Only a sober admission of this complexity can help us to heal from the open, festering wound of ongoing racism that has left South Africa with the unenviable distinction of being the most unequal country in the world; a wound not necessarily unique to South Africa, but indeed also the reason behind the violent conflict seen around the world.

Author, Ian Fuhr and co-author, Nina de Klerk, have created a powerful examination of the deep-rooted causes of continuing racial polarisation in South Africa and suggest a road map for the journey towards racial healing. The book is the first of its kind and is enhanced by influential collaborators who share their authentic and often emotive perspectives on racial healing, with essays from Bonang Mohale, Carin Dean, Jonathan Jansen, Leon Wessels, Loretta Feris, Lukhanyo Calata, Max Du Preez, Mbali Baduza, Padhma Moodley, Roelf Meyer and Sylvester Chauke.

The Human Bridge is an ambitious but achievable vision of the future. If people are willing to familiarise themselves with each other’s life experiences, own up to their own fears and racial biases, and engage in authentic dialogue, South Africans may once again become an example to the rest of the world.

The Human Bridge challenges every South African to educate themselves to become more aware of race-related issues, read, research, watch, learn, unlearn, enlighten, understand, explore, unpack, overcome and interact with people from different race groups and to start having those difficult conversations about racial healing.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ian Fuhr has been described as a ‘serial entrepreneur’. His working career is lined with a number of entrepreneurial start-ups, including a retail chain, a record company, a race relations consultancy, and a national chain of beauty salons called Sorbet. In February 2019, he set up a coaching and consulting business called the Hatch Institute, focusing on self-development, culture, leadership, customer service and racial healing. Ian has authored three books, Get that Feeling (Pan Macmillan, 2014), The Soul of Sorbet (Pan Macmillan, 2018) and Cultureneering (Pan Macmillan, 2021).

Nina de Klerk is a seasoned academic and published researcher and has many years of industry experience in various capacities. She is an emeritus professor of Strategic Communication at the University of Johannesburg and has participated in various critical transformation initiatives in the country and abroad.

'The Human Bridge: Racial Healing in South Africa' is published by Tracey McDonald Publishers