A rude white beggar illustrates the truth about poverty, race and the selective application of compassion

Speaking at an event at Evanston Township High School in Illinois, American author and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates explained that “to be black is to walk through the world and watch people doing things that you cannot do”. These words resounded in my head last weekend as I experienced the South African version of this.

An elderly white man sat down a few tables away from me and ordered a cup of tea at a popular restaurant in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs. From the corner of my eye I saw him get up to walk towards what looked like the bathroom and ask out loud, to no one in particular, if this was where the bathroom was.

When no one responded, he proceeded to bang his fingers on my table to get my attention. Taken aback, I looked at him as he almost barked: “Is this where the bathrooms are?”

Annoyed, I replied tersely, “I don’t know”, because first, don’t bang on my table, second, do you know what “Hello” is, but most importantly, I don’t owe you any service or answers.

He emerged from the bathroom and then awkwardly surveyed the room. He then started going from table to table, asking for money. The first table declined, then the next and the next.

Now, what was interesting about this scene was the very specific tables he approached. He only went to the tables where white people were seated, even though the restaurant had a more-or-less even mix of black, Indian and white people.

As I watched this man going around begging at the tables, two things jumped out at me. First, had this man been black and looking the way he did, he probably would not even have made it inside the restaurant or had the confidence to walk inside. Security would have been set on him immediately.

Second, the privilege bestowed on him based solely on his skin colour meant that he had the confidence to walk in and right up to me, bang his fingers on my table and demand my attention without so much as a “Hello” or “May I ask if you know where the bathroom is?” – something that no black person (poor or not) would do to a white person.

This man, by the way, ended up leaving without paying the bill, and without any of the restaurant management or security kicking up a fuss that he had come in, ordered, gone around asking patrons for money and then not paid.

This incident bears mentioning because it is but one of the many racialised injustices and microaggressions that continue to play out in South Africa and that are ignored or dismissed.

When people argue that South Africa’s issue is not racism but poverty, these examples prove that statement to be inaccurate because our poverty is quite obviously racialised. Because when you are white and poor, the colour of your skin still means you won’t be barred from or thrown out of establishments that do not allow begging.

For the record, I have no issue with kindness or compassion, particularly when a person is down and out. What I take issue with is its selective application. DM168

Zukiswa Pikoli is a journalist at Maverick Citizen.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.