Paying for the sins of other people’s forefathers
Hajira Amla | 4 March 2008
I came to South Africa in 1993 as an eleven-year-old, with South Africa teetering on the brink of political turmoil and change. I was born in the United Kingdom and lived in the Seychelles for two years prior to my arrival in South Africa. My mother is a Seychelloise and my father is, for want of a better word, English, but has lived in many countries throughout his life, including several African countries.
Now, having lived in black and Indian communities for most of my life, I am discriminated against in the New South Africa because of the colour of my skin. Although I did not benefit in any way from apartheid, it is nearly impossible for me to get a job because of the colour of my skin. Even though I am getting married to a “Historically Disadvantaged Individual” in a week’s time, I will still be penalised because of my European genes. My daughter will also be discriminated against when she grows up even though she was born in a Democratic South Africa from an English mother and a Scottish father.
Although I spend all my free time researching the injustices perpetrated against the non-white population in this country, from the time Jan van Riebeeck and the free burghers forced the Khoi-Khoi into slavery and submission right up to the 90-day detention law which swallowed the lives of many who struggled for freedom without a trace, my genes still make me an automatic racist.
This makes me think of the 1950s, when the apartheid regime enforced mandatory race classification. Families were torn apart because some were darker than others, and officials deemed a person “coloured” on the basis of whether a pencil stuck in their hair or not. Will we have to carry around identification documents which state our race? In a country where mixed marriages are becoming increasingly popular and commonplace, how will the next generation identify themselves then? Why should it even matter?
It’s not that I’m unsympathetic to the ideological desire to right old wrongs and correct the imbalance of power. It’s just that there’s this thing called the Constitution that our children are supposed to honour and uphold, that says there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race, gender or religious beliefs. Yet here we are… wondering when affirmative action will end. When will procurement and human resources stop looking at my skin and discarding my applications with upturned noses?
As a child growing up in the Seychelles, I lived in a society where I saw no colour. Whites, Indians and blacks have lived, worked and made babies with one other for decades. My maternal family is of African, French and Indian descent, yet we all love one another equally and make no distinctions among one another.
I do not for one second dismiss or try to diminish the importance of the struggle against apartheid, and I furthermore acknowlege that the solution is not a simple one. I apologise if my opinion doesn’t toe the ANC party line, but I am still entitled to put forth my argument - at least for the time being. Will whites in this country have to bear the burden of collective punishment twenty years from now? They will only continue to be resentful towards blacks and carry that bitterness and hatred over to the next generation. In the meantime the new black bourgeoisie keep the other 90% of the black population suffering in abject poverty distracted by blaming all their problems on the white man. This is certainly not the way to heal the rifts of the past. Going forward in the new South Africa was supposed to be about reconciliation, not the perpetuation of hatred on racial lines.
March 4, 2008 at 3:00 pm
You’re right. Until we can accpet each other on an equal basis we will never rid ourselves of the discriminations of the past.
It is a pity that the colour of one’s skin should have greater significance than the contribution they make to humankind.
March 4, 2008 at 3:10 pm
[...] clitemnistra wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHajira Talbot | 4 March 2008 I came to South Africa in 1993 as an eleven-year-old, with South Africa teetering on the brink of political turmoil and change. I was born in the United Kingdom and lived in the Seychelles for two years prior to my arrival in South Africa. My mother is a Seychelloise and my father is, for want of a better word, English, but has lived in many countries throughout his life, including several African countries. Now, having lived in black and Indian communities for most of my life, I am discriminated against in the New South Africa because of the colour of my skin. Although I did not benefit in any way from apartheid, it is nearly impossible for me to get a job because of the colour of my skin. Even though I am getting married to a “Historically Disadvantaged Individual” in a week’s time, I will still be penalised because of […] [...]
March 9, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Affirmative action is racist; it engineers standards in every field to advance minorities at expense of more qualified white (and sometimes Asian) candidates. The facts showing the dramatic advantages for minorities are ruthlessly suppressed.
Obama supports affirmative action, but unlike other candidates, for him it is not an expression of “white guilt,” but rather one of “black power.” He is supposed to be the candidate of racial healing, and is very articulate in his vague concessions to opponents, but all the proposed movement ends up being one way. The healing he wants involves whites folding on all issues where there is typically a division across racial lines. I suppose quick declarations of surrender can lead to a kind of peace, but it’s the peace of the grave, of cultural annihilation. It’s the peace of forgotten peoples who have become merely historical footnotes: Laplanders, Ruthenians, Khazars. This is what he is asking for when he talks about “hard work” and “sacrifice” and “making the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ on Earth” if he becomes President.