Writers/Righters: Political Prisoners of Robben Island Speak

I think I speak for the entire SASA cohort here: touring Robben Island was a very humbling and special experience. Walking the barren land and through the buildings with Lionel, who was a political prisoner on the island for seven years, and asking him questions about his own experiences on the island was more of a learning experience than we could have ever asked for. This incredible man has some crazy stories – for my peers and me, they really hit home.
“Writing” history and “righting” history do not fall very far from one another concerning the anti-apartheid struggle and the prisoners who suffered during the turmoil. We were extremely fortunate to have met an actual former prisoner during our very unique tour on the Island. Lionel, although technically not a writer himself, wrote his own story through his return to the island and his work as a tour guide. I found him extremely brave, along with all the others who continue to work on the island and education the public about its history. Standing by this man – who witnessed so many brutalities throughout his time on the island, who lived within the same quarters as Nelson Mandela during a time of their incarceration, who suffered minimal family contact and hard labor in the hot sun – and seeing him point to cells in which he spent so much of his life was both a serious privilege and wake up call for my peers and me.
Lionel is sure a “righter” of history, if I ever knew one. He made sure to tell us about the suffering and hardships endured by those banished on the island, but he also made sure that we understood that the place was not only one of injury, pain, and despair; it was also a place for change. He told us many stories about how the prisoners would teach each other – the prison was a school behind the walls encaging them and behind the backs of the guards: “You came here with one language, you left with three. You came with a primary school education, you left with a University degree. This place is where you become wise” (Lionel). Those who strove to learn despite their crippling sentences left Robben Island new and better men. Writing one’s own history and translating it for other’s education is one thing, but to “right” history by empowering oneself and bettering a community, despite hardship, is a strength of will power and body that we students can barely begin to grasp, but must fully appreciate.
Following our tour with Lionel, we were fortunate enough to meet a famous South African poet and artist named James Matthews. We were all immediately enamored with this tiny, witty man as he told us stories about his own incarceration. Many of us purchased his compilation of dissident poems entitled pass me a meatball, Jones after he read us a few selections. His words translate the prison mentality in an eerily effective way – Mr. Matthews strove to right history by writing the emotions experienced by one banished.
To be honest, I felt the twinge of dissonance throughout our tour of Robben Island and conversations with these men who have experienced so much in their lifetimes. It is a constant weight as we continue to experience the brutality of segregation in other aspects of our travels and through other conversations with South Africans; however, seeing Lionel, James, and others sit on prison benches with us, listening to their stories about very recent experiences, watching their faces as they recalled emotions bound to the island – the reality of it all left a pit in my stomach. It made me really grasp how our privileges as Americans prohibit us, to a certain extent, when having these conversations. We always say that you must learn history so that it does not repeat itself, which is definitely true, but it goes further than just knowing the facts. There is an absolute necessity to write history in order to even attempt righting it. It takes a strong will, smart mind, and a whole lot a courage to be these men. Former political prisoners like Lionel and James are true pioneers for revealing their stories – by accepting the past and moving forward, South Africa’s “clipped wings will grow,” supported by the crutches of those willing and able to pave the way (Matthews clipped wings, I stand).