Ignoring race does not make race-based disparities disappear. It is this exact sentiment that brings us to the atrocious decision by US President Donald Trump to cut off aid to SA, putting 15,000 jobs on the line and millions of people — black people mainly — at risk of treatment interruptions.

It’s a decision so poorly informed that one would think it was concocted in a vacuum sealed off from reality and historical consciousness. Except it is not. Trump is not misinformed. His decision on Friday, a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa fired a veiled shot at him stating SA would not be bullied, was a calculated act of historical revisionism that ignores the legacy of apartheid and the profound racial disparities it created...

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