Chapter 88 Chapter Nine: The Struggle with Those in Power

Turning now to the Ministry of Asian Affairs.Johannesburg has become a stronghold for officials dealing with Asians.According to my observation, these officials are not only not protecting Indians, Chinese and other Asians well, but they are exploiting them.Every day people come to me with this complaint: "People with rights are denied permission to enter the city, and those without rights can get in for £100. If you won't come out and do justice, who will?" "I also have this feeling.If I can't get rid of this bad thing, I'm living in the Transvaal for nothing. So I set to work collecting evidence, and as soon as I had a decent amount of material I went to the Chief of Police.It seems he is a just man.Not only did he not treat me coldly, but he also listened to me patiently and asked me to show him all the materials.He interviewed the witnesses himself and was satisfied, but he knew as well as I did that in South Africa it would be difficult to find a white juror to try a white man who had offended a colored man. "However," he said, "we're going to try anyway. It's not right to let these criminals get away with it because they're afraid the jurors will get away with it. I've got to get them. I promise you I'll do whatever I can deal with them."

I don't need this guarantee.I suspect a large number of officers, but as I have no irrefutable evidence against them all, the warrants are for only two persons, whose guilt I have no doubts about. My actions can never be kept secret.Many people know that I run to the chief of police almost every day.The two officials who were to be arrested had some more or less capable spies under them. They often kept watch at my office and reported my actions to the two officials.I should admit, however, that these two officials were too bad to have had many spies.If the Indians and Chinese hadn't helped me, they wouldn't have been arrested at all.

One escaped.The prefect of police issued a summons for extradition and brought him back to the Transvaal.They were tried, and although there was sufficient material, and the jurors had learned that one of them had escaped, two were acquitted. I am indeed very disappointed.The police chief was also upset.This made me feel disgusted with working as a lawyer.It seems to me that a very wise man becomes an abomination because he can sacrifice his innocence to cover up his crime.However, the crimes of these two officials were so obvious that although they were released, the government could not accommodate them.Both of them were dismissed, and the Asian Affairs Department was relatively clean, and the Indian overseas Chinese group had a little protection.

This incident raised my reputation and my business even more.Although not all of the hundreds of pounds of unjust money spent by the overseas Chinese group every month, it was saved.It is impossible to avoid spending this kind of money at all, because the corrupt people are still waiting for the opportunity to do their business.Yet now it is possible for the upright man to maintain his uprightness. Although these officials are so bad, I want to say a word of conscience, I have no personal grudges against them.They themselves understand this, and when they come to me in difficulty, I help them.They have the opportunity to be employed by Johannesburg City Council as long as I don't object.A friend of theirs came to me about it, and I promised to do nothing, and they were hired.

This attitude of mine reassured the officials with whom I had dealings, and despite my frequent dealings with their yamen and the use of strong words, they maintained a rather friendly relationship with me.At the time I did not fully realize that this behavior was part of my nature.It was later learned that this is a necessary part of the nonviolent resistance movement and is an attribute of "nonviolence". People and behavior are two different things.A good deed deserves approval, a bad deed deserves condemnation, and the man who does it, whether he be good or bad, is always condemned for the good or bad of his deed. respect or pity. "Hate the crime, not the person" is an easy-to-understand concept, but few people practice it, which is why the venom of resentment spreads all over the world.

This "non-violence" is the basis for the pursuit of truth.I have come to understand more and more that such pursuits are often futile unless based on "non-violence."It is very legitimate to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack the creator of this system is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself.Because we are all painted by the same paintbrush, and we are all children of the same creator, but because of this, the power of the gods in our hearts is endless.To despise an ordinary person is to despise the power of that kind of god. It can be seen that it is not only that person who is hurt, but also the whole world who is hurt together with him.