"We are better off for having one another"

There's the phrase I wanted for the Brown v. Board anniversary. It says it all, even without context.

But then, the context is worth a moment. I'm cooking brunch this morning for Katie Moore and Sarah Hargis and their families, to celebrate their Centre graduations this morning and the teaching careers they'll start this fall.

With the radio on, I was only half listening to (of all things) the international sports news.  To get the wording right,  I hunted up the story online, and here are the basics:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu says the decision by the Bulls to play their Super 14 rugby semi-final in Soweto is the “most important development in the sport since the Springboks won the World Cup in 1995”.

Tutu, the anti-apartheid campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said all South Africans should applaud the move by the Pretoria-based Bulls to play today’s match in the famous township, which was home to more than one million people, mainly poor blacks.

“It is one of those special South African moments that proves we are better off for having one another, and that despite the challenges we face, our society is on the right track,” said Tutu.

It’s a landmark move by the Bulls, whose supporters are generally whites, to play in Soweto – the township synonymous with black resistance to apartheid. It’s the first major rugby match to be held in a township.

“Not too long ago,” Tutu said, “Pretorians may have choked on their moustaches at the thought of kicking for posts at Orlando Stadium, Soweto. And the arrival of these giant Bulls from the north would have sent Sowetans ducking for cover.

“But this weekend Soweto will host the biggest rugby match ever held in a South African township.”

The Bulls chose to play in Soweto after handing over their Loftus Versfeld stadium to soccer World Cup organisers last week.