The Sun Between Their Feet by Doris Lessing

Author:Doris Lessing [Lessing, Doris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-00-654543-9
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 1973-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

On the platform are Mr Samu, the other man who was with him in the bush, and a third man, who is almost at once introduced as Mr Mizi. Jabavu’s eyes, dazed with so many people all together, hardly see Mr Mizi’s face, but he understands this is a man of great strength and cleverness. He stands as straight and tall as he can so that Mr Samu may see him, but Mr Samu’s eyes again move past without seeing, and Jabavu thinks: But who is Mr Samu? Nothing beside Mr Mizi … And then he looks at how these men are dressed, and sees their clothes are dark and sometimes old, sometimes even with patches on them. There is no one in this hall who has as bright and smart clothes as Jabavu himself, and so the small, unhappy child in Jabavu quietens, appeased, and he is able to stand quietly listening.

Mr Mizi is talking. His voice is powerful, and the people on the benches sit motionless, leaning forward, and their faces are full of longing, as if they are listening to a beautiful story. Yet what Mr Mizi says is not at all beautiful. Jabavu cannot understand, and asks a man near him what this meeting is. The man says that the men on the platform are the leaders for the League for the Advancement of the African People; that they are now discussing the laws which treat Africans differently from the white people … they are very clever, he says; and can understand the laws as they are written, which it takes many years to do. Later the meeting will be told about the management of land in the reserves, and how the Government wishes to reduce the cattle owned by the African people, and about the pass laws and also many other things. Jabavu is shown a piece of paper with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and opposite these numbers are written words like Destocking of Cattle. He is told this piece of paper is an Agenda.

First Mr Mizi speaks for a long time, then Mr Samu, then Mr Mizi again, and sometimes the people in the hall seem to growl with anger, sometimes they sigh and call out ‘Shame!’ and these feelings, which are like the feelings of one person, become Jabavu’s also, and he, too, claps and sighs and calls out ‘Shame, Shame!’ Yet he hardly understands what is said. After a long time Mr Mizi rises to speak on a subject which is called Minimum Wage, and now Jabavu understands every word. Mr Mizi says that not long ago a member of the white man’s Parliament asked for a law which would make one pound a month a minimum wage for African workers, but the other members of Parliament said ‘No,’ it would be too much. And now Mr Mizi says he wishes every person to sign a petition to the members of Parliament to reconsider this cruel decision. And when he says this, every man and woman in the hall roars out ‘Yes, yes.

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