Now that some of the smoke of protest has cleared around an outrageously racist act in a men’s residence at Stellenbosch University (SU), it is time for deeper reflection. The facts of the case are undisputed. A white student urinated on the laptop and other possessions of a black student. However, the public incense, sometimes disguised as commentary, was all over the place. Let’s take a closer look.

In his incomparable little book offering an intellectual history of the Donald Trump era in America, What Were We Thinking, Carlos Lozado writes this precious line: “My own concern is not how we got here, but how we thought here.” How do we as South African’s come to “think here” when another racist incident surfaces in school or society?..