South Africa and the American South

According to a new public opinion poll conducted for the Sunday Times of London, “South African whites are increasingly unhappy with the apartheid system and a majority want the nationalist leader Nelson Mandela freed from prison.” Even as the sound and fury of events make it appear that polarization is the order of the day in South Africa, many whites are tormented by their divided consciences on the “race question.”

There is here a striking echo of some...