Saturday night, I had the opportunity to watch a new film about the South African photographer Ernest Cole. I didn’t know what to expect. My knowledge of South African history has been chiefly limited to the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela—his trial, incarceration, and eventual release. But I knew nothing about Ernest Cole. After watching this documentary, I can say without hesitation that this is one of the most powerful films I’ve ever seen.
It is not simply a documentary—it is a visual and emotional experience. Told through Cole’s photographs, Lost and Found is a gripping narrative of apartheid-era South Africa. You don’t just watch this film—you feel it. You see the forced removals, the humiliation, the surveillance, the subjugation of Black South Africans in their land. You witness the daily dehumanization that was justified by law, enforced by the state, and ignored by most of the world.
Ernest Cole was not just a photographer. He was a revolutionary with a camera. He left school in protest of the Bantu Education Act, which deliberately dumbed down education for Black South Africans. He left his country, his family, his future—everything—just to tell the truth. He used his lens to capture what the world refused to see. And when he could no longer document that truth safely in South Africa, he fled to the United States, carrying rolls of undeveloped film that would eventually become his legendary book, House of Bondage.
What struck me most was not just Cole’s bravery but his vision. This was a man in his twenties with the foresight to risk everything for the power of truth. He understood that images could change the world. And they did.
I highly recommend watching this film. It will educate you. It will challenge your assumptions. And if you’re not Black, it might just wake you up to the reality of what people of African descent have endured—not just in South Africa, but across the world.
And that brings me to the present. Because while the film offers a profound education, it also puts a blinding spotlight on the hypocrisy we see today in U.S. foreign policy. Right now, the Trump administration is granting refugee status to white South Africans under the false claim of “reverse apartheid.” That is a lie. Anyone who has seen this film or is familiar with South African history knows it.
The U.S. did virtually nothing during the actual apartheid era. Reagan called apartheid a problem for “constructive engagement.” It took Congress overriding his veto in 1986 to impose any sanctions at all. Our government didn’t lead on justice; it had to be dragged there. And now, in 2025, we have a U.S. president giving asylum to the descendants of colonizers, land thieves, and apartheid enforcers—people whose families benefited from centuries of Black exploitation and oppression.
To call that “refugee status” is not just inaccurate. It is morally repugnant.
Today, the new South African government is attempting to reverse generations of land theft and economic suppression. That is not “reverse apartheid”—that is justice long overdue. Watching Lost and Found makes that clear. It makes clear why so many white South Africans are now fighting back—because power, once granted, is never surrendered without resistance.
But let me be blunt: America has no moral ground to stand on. We enslaved Africans for over 250 years, followed by a century of Jim Crow and systemic economic oppression. We failed to stand with South Africa when it mattered most, and now we are aligning with the oppressors under the banner of “protection.”
Enough.
If you are reading this and haven’t seen the film, please watch Ernest Cole: Lost and Found. Don’t argue about South African policy until you do. Don’t speak about reverse discrimination unless you’re prepared to understand the real history of colonization, apartheid, and economic disenfranchisement. Get educated before you speak. Because ignorance is no excuse—and silence is complicity.
Eric Lawrence Frazier, MBA
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