The covenant - James A. Michener [640]
nxumalo: Yes, there is such a danger, my Lord.
broodryk: Then should you not pursue your objectives through a more peaceful method? By negotiation rather than violence?
nxumalo: Most certainly that would be preferable.
broodryk: Then you agree that by working through established channels, and there are many, mass upheaval could be averted?
At this point the judge was so reasonable and conciliatory that Saltwood, listening carefully to every nuance, felt certain that if Nxumalo reciprocated, Judge Broodryk would be eager to find him guilty only to a limited degree, and his life would be spared, for everyone in the courtroom knew that Nxumalo had performed no overt act of real revolution. But to Saltwood's dismay, his friend refused the olive branch the judge had extended. Indeed, his rejection of Broodryk's invitation was cold and total.
nxumalo: Your Honor, we cannot accept the status quo because we had no voice in establishing it. We will never accept it, for this is our land, too, and we of this generation cannot abdicate the rights of our children still to be born. We are opposed to apartheid now and forever.
broodryk: But people may not oppose it, Mr. Nxumalo, with actions that contravene the law of the land. They may not engage in acts of terrorism to upset what the government has patiently and justly ordained.
nxumalo: Not justly, my Lord.
kaplan: What he means, my Lord
broodryk: I know what he means. Let him continue.
nxumalo: I stand before this court accused of terroristic activities. Every day in South Africa acts of terrorism are committed against my people through the harsh application of laws not justly ordained. To me it was an act of terror to banish an old woman to a resettlement camp. It is an act of terror to starve a young mind hungry for learning. It is an act of terror to force apart a man and woman who love each other. It is an act of terror to say to a black man born on this land, 'You cannot live here because white people want the land.' Or to tell that same man he cannot go to a town where he can earn a decent living for his family.
broodryk (with great patience): I am waiting for your point, Mr. Nxumalo.
nxumalo: I will state it honestly, my Lord. We deny that the laws of apartheid are just or that this is a just society. We see it as a society with only one ambitionto maintain white supremacy.
broodryk: But that is the acknowledged goal of this society. If you have a solution that is better for all, this court would like to hear it.
nxumalo: We might start with justice for the majority of people living here.
broodryk: And the minorities, who also deserve protection?
nxumalo: A minority with machine guns can always protect itself.
Judge Broodryk was meticulous in according Daniel every opportunity to defend himself, and although some of the young professor's answers must have infuriated him, he betrayed nothing, and Saltwood saw that Nxumalo was going out of his way to antagonize the judge. What the young man's strategy was, Philip could not discern, and the trial proceeded.
Prosecutor Scheepers now turned his attention to two curious aspects of the case, returning to them again and again during the four days he interrogated the young teacher.
scheepers: Where did you first hear the phrases Black Power and Black Consciousness?
nxumalo: I can't say. They were in the air.
scheepers: Could I put it to you that you heard them from Communist agitators? Men infiltrated here to agitate the unthinking blacks?
nxumalo: Blacks do not need Communists to agitate them. Apartheid does that every day.
scheepers: But what does the phrase meanBlack Power? Doesn't this necessitate blacks opposing whites? Like your older rallying cry 'Africa for the Africans?'
nxumalo: There's nothing subversive about that. You're a man of Africa. My counsel