Explain why the murder of Arthur Jarvis is an especially sore and unfortunate blow for the native people of Johannesburg in Cry, the Beloved Country.

The murder of Arthur Jarvis is an especially tragic blow
for the native people of Johannesburg because he was sympathetic to their situation and
had been prepared to work actively to improve it. In the newspaper article about his
death, a reference is made to an unfinished manuscript of his which was found on the
table by his bed. In this manuscript, entitled "The Truth about Native Crime," Jarvis
expresses his thinking and conclusions about the nature of the social dilemma that is
tearing the country of South Africa apart (Chapter 11).

The
substance of the manuscript written by Jarvis is revealed in Chapter 20. The writer
examines the history of the country, especially as it pertains to the current situation
in which thousands of displaced natives are swelling the ranks of the population in the
cities and living in deplorable conditions. Jarvis looks to the roots of the dilemma,
citing the imperialists' practice of bringing in the natives as cheap labor to mine
gold, without measuring the effect of such action. Jarvis
says,

"It is
not permissible to mine any gold, or manufacture any product, or cultivate any land, if
such...depend(s) for (its) success on a policy of keeping labour poor. It is not
permissible to add to one's possessions if these things can only be done at the cost of
other men."

Jarvis recognizes
that past policies have resulted in the destruction of native culture, and a large urban
native population who live without direction; he stresses that the society has a
responsibility to educate the children of that population and otherwise care for those
it has displaced. Jarvis says,

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"Our natives today produce criminals and
prostitutes and drunkards, not because it is their nature to do so, but because their
simple system of order and tradition and convention has been destroyed...by the impact
of our own civilization. Our civilization has therefore an inescapable duty to set up
another system of order and tradition and
convention..."

to take its
place.

Arthur Jarvis was a deeply moral and committed man
who championed the cause of the natives. His death, at the hands of a native, was truly
a blow to the native people of Johannesburg.