Someone suggested to me at a workshop recently that I should start an anonymous blog. I thought – wow, what a liberating idea! A platform where I could share my thoughts and ideas without fear of prejudice, judgement or tense moments with my family, friends and colleagues in real and tangible daily life.
But this blog is not really about me. This blog is a space to flesh out some of the realities faced by someone like me, living in South Africa today. Someone who is a South African person of colour.
African people of colour in South Africa (including Blacks, Coloureds and Indian/Asian) make up 91% of South African people. In numbers this totals 47 million men, women and children. My voice alone does not speak on behalf of all of them: it is merely a miniscule sample of the group.
The main reason I started this blog was to talk about the biggest disaster facing people like me here: racism. With so many people of colour dominating this country, one may ask: Why does racism still exist in South Africa? It’s a hard reality to fathom for some. Hard to admit for others. And yet it so undeniably does exist.
The answer is simple: because white supremacy is still intact. Deep down in the hearts and minds of the average man, woman and child, right up to the governmental and economic system of this country, white supremacy is a slow, pervasive poison that keeps the black masses in their place.
I recently went shopping and saw this:
This is a garment by “Ethnix”, a clothing brand which makes overall-wear for domestic workers.
On the surface, this is a simple garment of workers’ clothing. In the subtext, this garment, decorated with typically Ndebele patterns and colours, is to be associated with a particular ethnic (read: racial) group – black. I felt outraged to see this in the store, in this day and age. Does the store manager, the black employees, customers, anyone, not see this clothing as offensive? Does no-one see that it demeans South African culture and heritage, by associating domestic work with a black woman? How can anyone not view this as supporting Apartheid South African rhetoric? These kind of statements perpetuate the stereotype that black people are slow and dimwitted, and only qualified to do mindless work like cleaning. This garment screams: “It is an African woman’s destiny to be a cleaner/domestic worker.”
As a person of colour born and raised in SA, in order to cope with the harsh white supremacy in my face on many levels, I have to numb the pain. If not, I would fighting with the store manager or the company Ethnix. You see, many black people like me feel this way, every day of our lives. To survive means to ignore and carry on. Generations of us have bore the pain of our emotional wounds and fractures. We have not healed, in all these years. The damage done to us is wrapped in dirty, blood stained bandages, never getting an opportunity to air. We do not feel, heal or grow. We simply survive.
Unfortunately this makes most of us and our non-black fellow South Africans believe that there’s nothing wrong with us, that we’re fine.
But there is so much that people of colour have to do in order to be human again.
I paraphrase Steve Biko when I say: black man, woman and child – you’re on your own! Rise once again as your ancestors did! Reclaim your dignity and power! Heal emotionally, psychologically and get on the road back to your rightful place as worthy citizens of this land!
Be Colour Blind 