Number 65: Our father was an habitual writer to the various local Newspapers – and also sometimes National. This is one of his numerous letters propounding the iniquities of Apartheid and his view on what we need to do about it:

51 Hula Hula, Humewood Road, Humewood, Port Elizabeth

27 September 1985

The Editor   

Evening Post

Dear Sir,

These eloquent words of President Abraham Lincoln when he urged the American Congress in 1862 to draft an amendment to the American Constitution which would finally abolish black slavery, have a universal message.

He said:

“The dogmas of the quiet past are quite inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country”.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “disenthrall” as “free from bondage”.

Lincoln’s message in the context of our South Africa of today should be read as conveying the imperative that we should free our minds from the bondage of prejudice and ignorance   “and then we shall save our country”

Yours faithfully,

S. Schkolne