Cry The Beloved Country Injustice

Activist, writer and former politician of Afghanistan Malalai Joya said, “I don’t fear death; I fear remaining silent in the face of injustice. I am young and I want to live. But I say to those that would eliminate my voice: I am ready, wherever and whenever you might strike. You can cut down the flower but nothing can stop the coming of the spring.” Joya’s powerful words are especially true, in today’s world and in Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country. When Stephen Kumalo’s sister becomes ill, he is driven away from his small village in South Africa, to go find her in Johannesburg. Kumalo’s brother, sister, and son have all left in search for a better life and since they have not contacted him nor returned and it is on this journey

that Kumalo discovers how injustice and fear can turn a person's world upside down.Paton demonstrates through the main characters that inequality and injustice are the root cause for many of the issues that are prominent in both his novel and in the real world while also recognizing that it is fear that drives these same prejudices.

Paton argues that many of the prejudices that are found both the novel and modern society have been brought on by inequality and injustice. The author uses land as a platform to further articulate issues that have been brought on by the racial inequity between the whites and blacks in South Africa. “The grass is rich and matted, you cannot see the soil. It holds the rain and the mist, and they seep into the ground, feeding the streams in every kloof. It is well-tended, and not too many cattle feed upon it; not too many fires burn it. For it keeps men, guards men, cares for men. Destroy it and man is destroyed” (4). Paton then offers the reader another piece of land to consider, “Down in the valleys women scratch the soil that is left and the maize hardly reaches the height of a man. The valleys of old men and old women, of mothers and children. The more men are away, the young men and girls are away. The solid cannot keep them anymore” (4). By including these two very different pieces of land, Paton is able to describe to the reader the somewhat

abstract concept of injustice. One of these pieces of land belongs to the blacks and the other belongs to the whites of South Africa. Though it is not specified which land belongs to who, it is later mentioned that Kumalo's brother, son, and sister leave Ndotsheni because the “the soil cannot keep them anymore”, meaning that the conditions of the land have gotten so bad that they can no longer keep living there, thus they leave to Johannesburg where the conditions of the land may be better but not by much. The people of Ndotsheni that live on the poor land, are at a disadvantage compared to those who live on the other land. The blacks were given the poor piece of land and the whites lived on the healthy piece of land. The land that the whites lived on, was not given to them by chance, they obtained that land by creating social and racial barriers that lead the black South Africans to believe that the land that they were given was what they deserved. By having to live in such poor states, they were subject to issues such as lack of food, water, unemployment and poor schooling. These issues that are present to the people of Ndotsheni are not present to the whites that live on the other piece of land. Their land is described as “well tended” and that it “keeps men, guards men, cares for men,” meaning that the land is healthy enough to hold the people that live on it, for food to grow, and a healthy environment for children and animals to be raised on. These injustices are also portrayed when Kumalo finds out through the mission priest, Msimangu, how his sister has been living in Johannesburg.“She lives in Claremont, not far from here, It is one of the worst places in Johannesburg. After the police have been there you can see the liquor running in the streets… She makes it and sells it. These women sleep with any man for their price. A man has been killed at her place. The gamble and drink and stab. She has been in prison more than once” (23). Much like Kumalo, Gertrude was driven out of her home because of the lack of food, housing, and overall life opportunities that her small community was offering. Thus, she turns to a very self-destructive way of life but in comparison to life back in Ndotsheni, it is better. When Kumalo shows up at Gertrude's house in Johannesburg, he tells her that he is here to take her back home and she begins to sob uncontrollably and says, “I do not like Johannesburg, she says. I am sick here. The child is sick” (31). Considering her previous lifestyle choices, it would be expected that Gertrude would reject Kumalo’s proposal to return to Ndotsheni, but she seemed more than eager to return home. This shows that what Gertrude expected of Johannesburg was completely different than what the outcomes were. She left her home in hopes that she would have a better life but in the end, she hurt herself and her loved ones even more. However coming from a place where there was no work and where the land was dying, she felt that she had no other choice but to resort to crime. She had to do what she thought was best in order to put food on the table and a roof over her head. Though Apartheid was not in place at the time, this did not stop the government and the surrounding communities from oppressing black people. Many of the actions that the South African government did to hold black South Africans to a second-class status, is almost identical to current governments that are continuing to contribute to this systemic oppression.
The government has systematically oppressed blacks and they, therefore, don’t address the real issues that could potentially put a stop to the families having to resort to crime to make a living. Paton demonstrates that beginning of South Africa's trouble with racial inequality was due to the government's prejudice towards blacks.
The same injustices that South Africans faced back then are present in today’s world. They are driven by a common factor: fear. In order to allow the reader to have a different perspective on what was happening in South Africa during this time. In this particular scene, there are various white people fighting for a reform that will grant harsher sentences for native crimes. “And these people will ask more, more police and for heavier sentences for native house breakers, and the death penalty for those who carry weapons when they break in. And some will ask for a new native policy that will show the natives who is the master” (79-80). There is an undeniable fear that has been struck in the hearts of every single one of these white South Africans. They all fear that the crimes will go up and that it could be one of their loved ones to be killed next. However, this fear that is within them is blinding them from the unjust treatment that they are suggesting be brought upon black South Africans. They are insisting that these laws be made stricter and harsher just for the black. They are not suggesting that the same laws be implemented for whites who commit similar crimes. The reason that they fear so much is because of the way that the media has portrayed black men. The news articles have made African men seem like ravaging animals that need to be put on a leash to “show the natives who is the master.” By implementing these harsher sentences on black criminals is so that they feel like they have a sense of control over the natives. These harsher punishments are seen as a way to keep the streets free of crime for longer periods of time and thus it will create a better South Africa. Similarly, in the United States, there is a system known mass incarceration that targets black men and a judicial system that gives harsher punishments to people of color in comparison to their white counterparts. This fear driven prejudice can also be seen when two police officers discuss their thoughts on John Kumalo's protest about workers rights. “I tell you the man is dangerous, said one of the policemen. ‘I believe you know that I have heard him,’ say the other. ‘Why don’t they just shoot him?’ Asked the first. ‘Or shoot him, agreed the other.’”
Injustice is something that we cannot run from or ignore, one way or another it will catch up to us and we will then have to face what we have been so afraid of. Though it may seem like many of the scenarios in Paton's novel are far fetched in the arguably progressive society that we live in today, many of the injustices that occurred in Paton's novel are incredibly relevant especially in modern day society. Unjust judicial system, environmental racism, and institutionalized racism,