Nico Smith
Nico Smith (Nicolaas Johannes Smith; 1929 – 19 June 2010) was a South African
Early life and professional career
Smith grew up in the rural reaches of the
While Smith still held to typical white South African views of the time, the seeds for his later change of position were planted in the 1960s and '70s. Smith credited Swiss theologian Karl Barth for helping him eventually decide to fight apartheid. In 1963, Barth asked him if he was really free to preach the Gospel in South Africa. Barth asked him the question three times, concluding with "Will you be free to preach the Gospel even if the government in your country tells you that you are preaching against the whole system?"[2] Smith found that "I could not really answer the question truthfully. I thought I was free, and yet I was not sure."[1] Smith later said that he realized he "would have to decide to teach my theology but not apply it, or apply it and take the consequences."[2]
Anti-apartheid activism
In 1981, Smith could no longer keep his membership in the Afrikaner Broederbond in good conscience. He quit, and compared it to social suicide – many of his "friends" suddenly wanted nothing to do with him.[1] Smith began aggressively challenging apartheid in his classes, which drew the ire of his superiors who wanted him to "Teach theory, not conclusions."[1] Smith joined public protests against the government's bulldozing of squatter shacks in Cape Town, and he was called before a church commission to justify himself. Smith decided to resign his professorship and leave the DRC to join its separate colored branch, the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa. Smith, together with his wife Ellen, became an anti-apartheid activist from that point onward. He began preaching in Mamelodi in 1982, a suburb of Pretoria designated for non-whites only at the time due to the Group Areas Act. Smith eventually received rare permission from the South African government to live there in 1985, making him and his wife the only whites allowed to live in the area.[2] In Mamelodi, he not only acted as minister, but also as a community organizer and civic planner.[1] To encourage integration and interaction between the separated communities, he organized a further swap in 1988 – 170 whites moved into Mamelodi to live with black families, while 35 blacks lived in white homes in the suburbs of Pretoria. The exchange lasted four days.[2] At the time, few whites knew how blacks lived due to strict segregation rules. Black neighborhoods were avoided and perceived as dangerous. Smith explained that he ran the swap because "White fear is one of the great barriers to understanding and progress in this country... But over the past two years there has been an increasing realization by whites of the depth and the degree of black anger."[3] The swap was attacked as "designed to promote Marxist doctrine",[4] as nearly any opposition to apartheid was called a communist plot to destabilize the country. Smith also demanded an investigation into suspicious murders of anti-apartheid activists.[5]
In 1989, he moved back to a white suburb of Pretoria.[2] Smith's South African model of the in-home meal and story sharing earned the 1989 Beyond War Award,[6] and inspired the sustained Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group in the United States.
Later years
After the fall of apartheid, Smith helped build a multiracial congregation in Pretoria.
Smith died of a
In 2012, the city of Pretoria renamed 27 streets in its central business district to better reflect the diversity of modern South Africa. Michael Brink Street was renamed to Nico Smith street in Smith's honor.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Otto Friedrich and Peter Hawthorne (27 June 1988). "Rev. Nico Smith: White Among Blacks". Time. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hevesi, Dennis (21 June 2010). "Nico Smith, White Minister Who Fought Apartheid, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ "The Rev. Nico Smith dies at 81; white South African pastor who fought apartheid". Los Angeles Times. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ David Brand and Peter Hawthorne (28 March 1988). "South Africa Fellowship Amid Turmoil". Time. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ a b "ANC pays tribute to Nico Smith". Mail & Guardian. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ Beyond War Award Page http://traubman.igc.org/bwaward.htm
- ^ a b de Villiers, Johannes (21 June 2010). "Bekende kerkman en stryder teen apartheid oorlede". Rapport (in Afrikaans). Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ Smith, Nico (11 September 2009). "Wittes, pas aan in SA, of pas op". Beeld (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ "ShowMe: Pretoria's new street names". Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2020.