Before he left, Peregrine favoured us with his opinion – one, I hasten to say, that was neither solicited nor his first.
Characteristically, it came in the form of a pronouncement. There had been enough of them during his stay to be classed as ‘perrynouncements’. They required only a pistol, a platform, a moustache and a megaphone to be pronunciamientos.
In fairness, the Panama hat he all but slept in does give him the air of a sombre hombre. Sombre he was certainly being now.
“You know, your Blacks should hate you whites. Under apartheid you treated them like dogs, so by rights you should get bitten now they are unleashed. Yet they actually like you.”
“Really? Do you really think so?” I say.
“Yup. In the UK, we treat our Blacks with courtesy, kindness and respect. It’s who we are, and ever have been. Look at the welcome we gave to the immigrants on the Windrush.”
“Nonsense!” exclaims Noah. “It’s because you lock people up when they say something racist. Thirty months in the slammer for hurty words.”
“Well, yes, there is that. But hear me out. What I am trying to say is that your Blacks are much nicer to you than ours are to us. It should be the other way round.”
“Perhaps it’s because you are all so class conscious. I suspect this makes you a trifle condescending,” Noah struggles to be nice to Perry.
“Sunny disposition”
“Nah, it’s not that. I think it’s because your Blacks have a sunny disposition. Must be the weather, I suppose.”
I fall silent. So does Noah. The duty to be hospitable extends only so far.
Some days later, alone with Noah, I ask him what he thinks. He says he cannot judge the mood of Blacks abroad, but he agrees that race relations are generally good in our country.
“Individually, perhaps,” I reply, “but collectively, I’m not so sure.”
“Well, the polls suggest as much. I think the IRR did something on this recently. Let’s see. Ok, here’s Grok: ‘Recent South African polling (IRR 2025–2026) shows majority rejection of continued race-based allocation of opportunities (around 70% overall, including majorities of Black respondents), strong endorsement of interracial cooperation (near 90%), and a preference for economic upliftment (jobs and education) over racial engineering as the path to reducing inequality.’”
“Do Blacks and whites mix more here?” I ask. “I mean, in domestic service, at the workplace, in the classroom, and so on?”
“Goes deeper”
“Perhaps, but I think the explanation goes deeper. I think it is a question of power. Now that Blacks are in power, Blacks see their own as to blame when things go wrong. For their part, whites, sensing their powerlessness, are a lot less arrogant in the way they behave.”
“This would, I suppose, square with the Westerner’s experience in Vietnam. James and Mimi – you remember them, darling, our American friends – said they had the loveliest of welcomes on their trip over there. They experienced no hostility whatever, and I know of no American who has. After such a war, you’d expect a little “Yankee, go home!”, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes. Interesting, that,” says Noah. “But aren’t you being too sanguine? I mean, ten percent of the electorate vote for the EFF. They want to “kill the Boer!” That doesn’t sound particularly welcoming to me.”
“Recently, Malema said he means this only metaphorically. Seemingly, he is no longer malemalent.”
“Well, I will start trusting what he says when he stops using the chant. If at all. But your point is a good one. So much depends on leadership and its influence over the group. I mean, think of Hitler. Look how he persuaded the German people – a decent, cultured, God-fearing people – that eliminating the Jews was crucial to their survival.”
Godwin’s Law
I think of Godwin’s Law: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”
“Or think of what Idi Amin did to the Asians in Uganda,” Noah proceeds. “Or think about how rabid Islamists want to treat the Israelis.”
“Stop, please, stop. Let’s talk about Christmas.”
“Yeah, but don’t forget what the Chief Priests and Elders did to him.”
Suddenly, the Easter bunny doesn’t seem so funny.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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