When it comes to race relations, us humble South Africans can teach the mighty USA a thing or two.
America has just had its version of #RhodesMustFall and all hell broke loose.
Mense over there are divided over the removal of a statue of Civil War “hero”, Robert E. Lee.
Lee led the army of the southern Confederate states, who had tried to keep slavery alive in the 1860s.
SAME STORRY: Rhodes
It’s a long story, but in the end, the Union states of the north, under President Abraham Lincoln, won the war which claimed about 1 million lives over five bloody years.
So you can understand why some groups over there - like Black Lives Matter - would take offence at the statue, and have called for Lee Park, where it stands in the town of Charlottesville, Virginia, to be renamed.
Not too dissimilar to the public sentiment towards the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at UCT a couple of years ago.
DIVIDED: Robert E. Lee statue removal
Rhodes was a great British industrialist, but also an imperial warlord who blasted his way through southern Africa, wiping out whole tribes and capturing every natural resource in his path.
But the fuss over Rhodes was minor compared to the violence and hatred that played out in Charlottesville last weekend.
In response to calls for the statue’s removal, the heleste white supremacists, neo-Nazis, right-wing nationalists and Ku Klux Klan united in a counter-protest march.
There were swastika flags, anti-Semitic and anti-* ***er banners, chanting, weapons, the works.
It was like a National Racism Day parade, and it got ugly.
The clashes in the streets got so heated that one white right-wing guy ploughed his car into a group of protesters, killing a young woman and wounding many others.
The horrific scenes from that day shocked the nation.
The rest of world was like: Yoh, what’s going on in America?
The nation was in crisis and needed decisive action from its leader.
President Donald Trump’s response could not have been worse, though.
Instead of condemning racism, and choosing anti-racists over racists, Naartjie Gevriet blamed “all sides” for the violence.
The white supremacists were over the moon after hearing his response, and thanked Trump for keeping his election promise to “take back America”.
But that’s where the praise ended.
Civil rights groups, the Jewish community and even Trump’s fellow Republicans are outraged.
Business leaders have turned their backs on the president’s business council, with eight CEOs of major corporations walking out this week.
It’s a massive social, political and economic mess and Trump only has himself to blame for it.
That’s the price you pay when you publicly promote racism and hatred, and choose neo-Nazis as your power base.
Munier almost feels sorry for Americans. It’s a shameful time for them.
But rather than say tsk, tsk, what advice can we, as South Africans, offer the US?
Well, for starters, as leaders they need to commit to building a non-racist society and condemn racism.
Trump hasn’t done that, and that’s why it’s currently socially acceptable to be racist in America.
They need to have meaningful dialogue between the different communities to deal with these deep-rooted issues - in public and in the media.
And lastly, they need a good leader who can unite all Americans and create a Rainbow Nation.