Engaging with race is an unforgiving affair, however one approaches it, writes Michael Morris. If embracing it can be, and perhaps always is, tainting – as it flirts with the fiction of difference – seeming to disown it, in the sense of pretending it is unaffecting, is surely delusional, as it overlooks the power and […]
No one has tackled the awkward yet urgent question: just where does the “coloured” belong? writes Dr Siona O’Connell. I was struck by the comment made by a UCT student who approached me after a lecture last week. “I must thank you, Siona,” she said quietly, “for talking about the ‘coloured’ experience at UCT, as […]
Janet Smith spoke to Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State, about how to raise a non-racial child. 1. I don’t agree with this view, that racism is entirely a consequence of economic inequality. In that case, you’d have to explain middle class American racism. It is importantly a function […]
As we approach municipal elections and the likely attendant bad behaviour from the competing parties, measures to combat racism take on new urgency, writes Ryland Fisher. It was an honour to attend the launch on Thursday of the Racism Stops With Me campaign, which is supported by Independent Media and a few partners. It was […]
Less than R50 is all you need to turn the ‘darker’ you into a ‘yellow bone’. You’re also guaranteed it will take about two weeks to start seeing results. People have been bleaching their skin for some time now and many say it is because they do not look beautiful with their dark skin, so a lighter […]
In a world that is anti-black, anti-women, anti-poor, you are most likely to live with your guard up. Yes. Life is hard when you’re a woman. I want to look at how society has played a major role in our lives and how my subconscious is also conditioned. Making my way to the For Black […]
When eNCA’s Andrew Barnes corrected Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga for her mispronunciation of the word epitome, he also added that someone should teach her how to pronounce the word properly. Why do people care so much about how people speak? Does Mr Barnes know how to pronounce words in the minister’s mother tongue? Within the black […]
When I met Nick, my future husband, the only thing that mattered to me was what we felt. I didn’t consider race or culture until a time came when I was inevitably faced with it. I come from a Coloured Christian home. He comes from an Indian Hindu home. I visited Durban before – and every time I […]
Slindile was adopted at the age of three by a white couple, Heidi and Neik Wit. Slindile has never experienced any discrimination from her family based on her skin colour, but her family is an example of a rose surrounded by thorns. The country always preaches about unity, a rainbow nation and how they wish white and […]
In the USA, Arab-Americans have been classified as white for the past 70 years. With recent contestation arising around this classification, it must be asked: in a multinational context, what are the tensions around being considered white, despite being a person of colour? Aaisha Dadi Patel chatted to 34-year-old Mina Demian, a Swedish writer of Egyptian descent, living in Westdene, […]