article_snippet.sent: (CNN)As we approach April 27 when South Africa marks the anniversary of the first post-apartheid elections held that day in 1994, we are faced with yet another wave of deadly attacks against African migrants.
article_snippet.sent: That vision not only symbolized a multi-ethnic South Africa, but one where living in dignity is shared across racial and class lines.
article_snippet.sent: Attacks against newcomers in South Africa are often reduced to attitudes of hate and resentment towards other black Africans.
article_snippet.sent: The question of why foreign blacks are targeted and not foreign whites is also repeated ad nauseam, as if the majority of black citizens and African migrants share any common spaces and experiences with white South Africans or white foreigners.
article_snippet.sent: Contact between the majority of African migrant groups and native black South Africans mostly occurs in under-developed informal settlements and townships.
article_snippet.sent: Attention as to how such interactions occur in an environment where a vast portion of South Africa's black majority experiences segregation, persistent and relative poverty, and high crime rates in post-apartheid South Africa is paramount.
article_snippet.sent: Labeling South Africa's poor blacks as ungrateful and amnesiac to the history of hospitality other Africans bestowed on Labeling South Africa's poor blacks as ungrateful and amnesiac to the history of hospitality exiles under apartheid does a disservice to both the local poor whose citizenship rights are marginal at best and the resilient migrants in search of asylum and dignity.
article_snippet.sent: Migrants' security and dignity is part and parcel of a greater security and dignity for all South Africans, which seem deferred for now.