Sorry white people, we are not the same.
February 22nd, 2011 § 42 Comments
This column was originally published in the Cape Times on January 17, from my In My Arrogant Opinion column.
AN ONLINE column I wrote suggesting that white people benefited and still benefit from apartheid led to much anger and name calling, as was to be expected. This was evidenced by some comments I read and discussions I’ve had with some of my white friends (yes, I’m not racist, some of my best friends are white).
Anyway, one friend said to me that he and I were the same because we went to very similar high schools, so I have not been disadvantaged in any way. I could understand where he was coming from, but then again, he hadn’t looked at my perspective.
He saw what he wanted to. What some white people don’t get is that we are not the same. We did not get the same start in life just because black people happen to have gone to good schools, too. Most of the black people of my generation first went to broken-down schools in the townships or villages before being afforded the opportunity to go to white schools.
I had to explain to my friend that I went to a school that had no electricity and no water. The school was made of mud huts. One classroom was shared between two grades, one grade faced in one direction and the other in another direction. And both classes would be in progress at the same time in this one space. The school was cleaned by the primary schoolchildren. Cow dung was used to “polish” the floors.
The level of education I received during the formative years of my life was significantly inferior. So we are not the same.
When I was allowed to go to a white school in 1991, I had only learnt to speak English two years before that. So we are not the same. When I went to high school, I couldn’t swim because the schools I’d been to had no swimming pools, and nor did our homes in the villages and townships. So we are not the same.
When I left high school, my parents didn’t have a car to give me, not that they had one for themselves either. There was no money saved up for my education because my parents’ jobs didn’t allow them to save money for me to go to tertiary institutions. So we are not the same.
When I started working, I did not work to help myself, I worked to send money to my mother so that she could eat and clothe herself, so that my brother and sister could continue going to a good school, a school of the same calibre that a white child goes to. This meant that I couldn’t do the things that white kids my age could do for themselves like buying a car if my parents hadn’t bought them one. So we are not the same.
When black kids want to buy a house, we don’t have our parents to put down a deposit for us because they haven’t had the opportunity to make that much money. Just because less than 1 percent of the black population can live well and afford to do things like that, doesn’t mean that all black people can be said to live like white people now.
If some of us are where we are today, that is because we had to run faster to be at the same level as some of the white kids who are in our age group. We are not the same.
This is not to say that we resent anything, we are just upset that some people want to pretend that we are the same. Just because we went to the same schools, work in the same offices, do the same jobs and live in the same leafy suburbs does not mean we are the same.
Far from it.
You are right, we are not the same. We look different, come from different backgrounds and different cultures. Absolutely right. However, that does not mean that you (not you personally, I mean South African black people) have to get jobs you are not qualified for over coloured, indian or white people who happen to be qualified. I agree that a lot needs to be done in South Africa to rectify the hateful legacy of Apartheid. But it has to be done the right way.
Unfortunately the current government has been dropping the ball on many occasion in this respect over the past 16 years, and continues to do so. If you want to rectify the inequality then it all starts with a proper education. This means that you advance students to the next level ONLY if they are ready, not as a matter of practice. If they are not ready you hold them back and provide extra tuition. You teach them that you gain from hard work, integrity and honesty.
Then once they finish school with the right tools for the workforce you employ them on the same level where you would employ a white person, not higher up to make up numbers at a higher level. Again: you teach them how to do their job, advance them to a higher postion when they are ready to make it a succes and not sooner.
This way nobody can complain about affirmative action, it is only right that they get the chances they were denied before. And the black person would not fall on his/her face because he/she was not ready to perform at that level. So the haters cannot claim that the black person was just too dumb to do the job. I despise racism, but I think only those that deserve it on merit should be promoted. Then and only then do you make race an issue.
My wife has made a roaring success out of herself in the Netherlands allthough she was disadvantaged in the past. People respected her for her ability and not because of her colour.
Just my two cents.
Peace.
It’s funny how you say that black people are put into jobs that they are not qualified to do over coloured, Indians and whites were as in Cape Town we actually see the opposite. Coloured, white and Indian people are put in positions simply because of their skin coulour. With your Diploma + Btech or degree you report to someone who has grade12 or below , someone who has no clue of what they doing and has never seen the door of a higher education institution. Please rephrase your statement because black people are educated, smart and hard working, they don’t get promotions simply because of their skin colour but because of the work we put in.
Hans…
Not to attack your views, but you can’t generalize with such absolutes. Believe me, all race groups in business today employ and/or promote by race groups. It’s not a racist bitter governmental trend; it’s a human character flaw of not considering the subsequent results in the long run.
Just saying.
MiC
I agree in majority with what you have said in the above Khaya, however we must remember that not all whites were priviledged and that some have had to face challenges of educating themselves and taking care of family. What we can agree on whole heartedly is that we didn’t grow up the same.
I think for myself the message I would like to resound, is that most of us black people that have “made” it whatever that definition might be- have worked for it.
We have toiled to be where we are and at times x5 to our white counterparts, it hasn’t been handed to us.
I hear you dude, but let’s look at all these years since democracy took over and many folk from libertion movements and others have become multi multi rich – it was not the schools that did it. And that is the point – honest or not an entrepreneur will triumph no matter schooling. Richard Branson was nowhere at school but built an empire. Bill Gates baled Yale and the examples continue ad nauseum. Get the drift?
Bob, i get you but one thing you have to consider is that those are very few exceptions. Furthermore, they live in a different environment to that of a south african therefore with different external factors. In South african it is seldom you find individuals elevate themselves and succeed to that level with minimal education…
Dear Khaya,
Granted, a lot of white folk did grow up privileged. But to assume that most did, is stereotypical thinking. You gave your background, so here’s mine:
Went to a fairly decent primary school and had a fairly ok upbringing, so we were not the same.
When I went to high school, I couldn’t swim, because our primary school didn’t have a pool, nor did any of our friends, and my parents couldn’t afford swimming lessons. I was ridiculed because of that, so we are the same.
I had to leave school at the end of Std 8 because my mother couldn’t afford to keep both myself and my brother in school and the government didn’t care. During high school I owned 2 t-shirts and 2 skirts. That was the sum total of my wardrobe. Leaving school, I had to get a job to support myself and my mother and brother. I held down 3 jobs; worked behind the till at a chain store, waitressed at night, and worked as a shampoo girl/genl cleaner on Saturday mornings at a hair salon. I wasn’t given a car or an education. I did my matric via distance learning with money I scraped together. I did the same with my Unisa degree. I didn’t get my licence until I was 24 and my boyfriend taught me to drive. My first car was a Beetle older than me.
When we bought our first house, nobody helped us. We scraped together the money and went to bed with little or no food on many nights to ensure we could make our bond payments. When our daughter became sick 10 years ago, the medical expenses crippled us. We are still recovering from it today.
We received no hand-outs and no special treatment from either family or friends or the government. What we have today, was earned with blood, sweat and tears.
Some aspects of our life may seem privileged to you, but I think we are more alike than you’d think.
Take care.
Howzit Khaya
I think there is a flaw in your argument. I have 4 kids – 1 who is my wifes biological daughter and then 3 foster kids – 2 black and 1 white. The white kid spent 3 of the first 5 years of his life in a children’s home and the 2 black kids were taken in after their mother died of HIV 2 years ago.
So if I understand your argument then the two black kids are more disadvantaged than the white kids? From where I stand the kids are all entitled to the same opportunities.
When we went to the children’s home during our search which resulted in the little (white) boy – 80% of the kids in that home and probably 70% in the other home were white. Those kids are no more likely to have parents to put down deposits on cars or houses than black or coloured counterparts.
Don’t get me wrong – I completely get the historical imbalances and I mean even simple black to white ratios will reflect inbalances.
But surely you can’t say that in my scenario the black kids need anymore than the white kids because they’re more disadvantaged? Simplistic (and probably trite) example but should I buy the black kids King Steer burgers and the white kids ordinary steer burgers to make up for the imbalances?
I took issue with Sanlam in a recent column because they are rolling out products which are not accessible to white people. My challenge to them was that are you telling me that I can offer products to half my kids because they are disadvantaged but not to the other half because they are more advantaged?
Thoughts?
If I’m in competition with a white,Indian or coloured person;same qualification and vying for the same position and I get the job because of AA/EE-trust that I will not lose sleep over it.
Because truth of the matter is, I’d otherwise be stuck in an Admin position.
Good read Khaya
Good for you and you are right, you shouldn’t lose any sleep over it. If all things are equal I think it is right that you get preference. Alas often preference is given if things are not equal, I have seen this happen. And race should only be the deciding factor if all things are equal.
The number of responses shows you hit a nerve Khaya, keep up the good work.
Thought provoking topic.
Whilst accepting that not ALL the white people were privileged during the apartheid era we can not deny the glaring fact that for years black people were far more disadvantaged.
With the introduction of the current Constitutional dispensation the black South African finally had the opportunity to access to the basic rights and some chance in the corporate world.
However, it will take far longer for the scales to be balanced because what our white counterparts have over the blacks is wealth. Accumulated during the apartheid era which has been passed over from one generation to another, something the black person doesn’t have. We are now 16years into democracy. How can it be said that we are on equal footing.
@ZAR, I wouldn’t lose any either for in the recent years I’ve see job adverts which boldly state non-AA applicants only, a euphemism for whites only.
Thank you.
I agree that we assume we’re all the same now because we work at the same jobs now and live in the same suburbs.
But not all white people grew up privileged. My parents couldn’t afford to give me a car, the money for university (I put myself through University and paid off my own loan), the deposit for a house. Now I support them because their jobs didn’t provide for their old age.
I’d say we’re more similar than different.
No Khaya, We are not the same, We are all products of our upbringing and background, our environment, our schools, universities, the books we read, the movies we watch, where we have visited, whom we have spoken to, our partners, the people we surround ourselves with. We all have a context. Is it a race thing? – cant see why.
Jeez Khaya, c’mon, this is so simplistic it verges on the myopic. You actually are the same as a lot of white people (see Mrs Soap above). And at the same time, you are not the same as a lot of black people. You are not the same as those black kids who didn’t have a mother who fought hard to give their sons a chance in life. And you are not the same as those black kids who are born in the Sexwale household and are infinitely more privileged than almost all white people. How about this? We look for some common ground between us and every other South African, rather than doing the frankly disingenuous and deliberately misleading Mbeki trick of calling South Africa a nation split in two – one poor and black, the other rich and white. It just doesn’t work like that anymore. There are too many exceptions for it to hold any water. I hope its clear to you that South Africa’s biggest problem is inequality. Which is why AA and BEE should be subject to a means test. How do we address inequality if some rich little brat (Sexwale or Motsepe junior) who happens to be black is landing all of the plum jobs? I think you’ll find that we won’t. Sorry Khaya, the only way to change things is too see in rich and poor, not black and white.
We are all human, are we not?
So we are the same.
Dear Mrs Soap,
What you missed from Khaya’s words is that, his parents could not provide because they were not afforded the opportunity to have a career that would enable them to have a job that pays well so they can provide for him and his brothers to have all those amenities that white kids at his level had.
Whereas, with your parents (white i presume) they had this opportunity, they didnt use it? No dear lady, we are not the same.
#justsaying
Khaya…
Everyone has a different experience growing up. At the end of the day it’s about the fact that we are very much the same. We all love, we want the best for our children, we all want to live lives that mean something. We all have fears, hopes and dreams. We all have this one chance to walk this road called life. We all go back to dust one day.
Yes, we all have different stories to tell about our unique experiences on this road, but hey, at the end of the day we are brothers and sisters. We are human. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Simple and yet lofty expression of socio- economic injustices. Even the different interpretations of the blog post point to the fact that we are just not the same.
My best friend is a white girl of 28. Her dad died when she was 12, and she lived with her mom in a rented room for the next 5 years. She left school when she was 17 and started work to help her mom out. She still sends money to her mom, and has a savings account where she is putting money for her mom’s retirement. Her mom still earns less than R2000 a month. She bought her own little car that she has been paying off for six years, and still struggles every monthI don’t deny that black people have a harder time than whites generally. I just don’t like the generalization that all whites are rich. I think people are just people, black or white or yellow or orange. We all have struggles, mine might just be different to yours. One day, in the future, I hope that we can all just love and respect each other for the person, not the skin colour. We are underneath it all the same.
As much as the previously and still advantaged people can us stories if the struggles and injustices that they have lived, as result of their upbringing and backgrounds, I’m still not convinced that we are the same.
The issue that we have in South Africa is that white people live in their own fantasy world and are completely ignorant as to the suffering and indignity that is suffered by millions of black people every day. Not of their own doing; but as a result of the legacy left by oppressor (I don’t use the word former oppressor because we are still being oppressed)
I challenge my fellow commenter’s on this article to spend a week travelling to the townships and villages of South Africa, and see the horror that faces the majority of black people on daily basis. After the tour you will discover that our dear Government has been given a Hospital pass from the former regime. The backlog is immense.
Black’s aren’t living in skwatta camps and remote villages, which lack access to basic services, because they want to. They do so because this is the situations they are born into. Hence we need AA to fix these imbalances. Things are changing but you cant eradicate over a hundred years of exploitation and economic exclusion in 16 years, a challenge you to google a African country that has done that.
And to assume that all blacks who are appointed to AA positions are unqualified amounts to pure ignorance on the part of Hans-Erik Iken. I challenge him to give us a reference of the research article, statistical survey or fairy tail he gets this from.
To close, before you defend yourself just get to really know how the other half lives
Very tru…
Reading your blog brings back so many memories. When we grew up, my mom would go to the fruit & veg market every sunday to get a really nice banana box, just big enough to serve as our dining table for the rest of the week.
Khaya, you could have never said that you were South African and I would have thought any (About to hate saying these words…) ‘African-American’ from the U.S. could have wrote the same article.
Khaya, you might be one of the wisest people on your Continent and it is my absolute PLEASURE for YOU to call me a ‘LEGENDARY LEGEND!’
What we are ALL the same in is this: We want to do better than our parents, we want to work hard to get more than our parents and we want to eventually BE, no matter what we say, just like our parents. (smile) It’s a CRAZY circle but in MY head, every human being has the power to connect to another human being and THAT is special. With that gift, we have to GIVE freely… even if its just a word of encouragement or an empathetic shouler to cry on. Were all connected and the black and white part is like short and tall, fat and skinny, blonde or brunette, hot or cold and fresh and stinky… Just a bunch of adjectives …
Love you big Homie and I can’t wait until our childrens children children get to meet and they talk about how their cool great great grandfathers were and the awesomist stories that they heard about the two of them, from one continent to another. Stay Blessed, The only person in America who knows who Madiba is
“GRIFF”
I was raised by working class parents,who were always stressed and frusteted by their employer “apartheid Government”. They were not paid as much as their white colleagues and couldn’t get promotions as often as the whites. As much as they have always wanted the best for us (their children), because of all the traumatic experiences my parents were going through, they couldn’t be there for us emotionally.
In 2002 they managed to buy a house in a middle class suburb. That very same year I had to move to a Model C Primary School. I could not speak English or Afrikaans. I struggled a lot in class because my English was very poor, I was never the best in the different sports the school offered ( again it was all new to me), as I result my self esteem was affect and it remained the same throughout school. My grades in grade 7 were good enough to get me into a very good former-whites-only school. I couldn’t play as many sports as I would have wished to play because my parents could not afford all those expensive sports kits. (Did I mention that I am the 5th of 8 children), As a result I was never even nominated for all those awards and did not get Colours, honours or any of that. I was not bitter because most black kids in my school were in the same situation, most of them did not participate because they stayed in townships and they had no one to take them to games or pick them up after every sports practice. I only concentrated in one sport. I managed to get to Varsity but I struggled financially, getting my parents to pay the deposit was a struggle but they paid. 2 of my siblings were at Tertiary level same time as me (that was hell for all parties involved), at some point I had to use financial aid yeap! It was not easy at all. I dropped out in my 3rd year and I got a job at a very good company, it was far from home and had to get myself a flat and basic furniture, I had to raise my own deposit because my parents were in no position to help me out. At that time most white kids who went to the same school as me already had cars and all those things that makes ones life much easier. Unfortunately I only lasted there for only a year because of racism. Apparently I was the 1st black person to work in the offices, the only other two non-white colleagues of mine (indian-Muslim) advised me to leave because this was one battle I was never going to win (they also left a few months after me). 2 years later I completed my degree and continued with my studies. I have never worked for the government, but sometimes I believe my life will be much better in a public sector since it’s dominated by blacks and I would get a job there because I deserve it and I am qualified for it. In most private sectors they only appoint you for a position because they want points for their BEE Score card and they use you, but they want people like us who went to good schools and Varsity but the saddest part is that you get turned into some robot, they don’t expect you to think or act unless they tell you to. In most private companies you get appointed for a position because certain people believe you are fit enough to do the and in most cases its all discussed on the weekends at some social-club while drinking beer or after a good golf day. Guess what-Black person you are hardly ever invited in these social gatherings (personal experiences). So how can you tell me that we are the same.
I blame it all on my background and our old Government. I have no beef with white people, I mean I grew up with them, but I always knew that I was less fortunate so let’s stop fooling ourselves.
It sounds to me like you, like a lot of other black people like making excuses for not succeeding in the corporate world. Yes, European culture dominates the private sector, but if you really want to get ahead you have to play the game. Ever watch the movie ‘The Devil Wears Prada’? If you want to make a good impression on any person who is in a position of authority, then you have to suck up to a certain extent. What I also don’t understand is why black people like sticking around in companies where they feel unwelcome because of their race and then complain. I you are being treated badly why don’t you look for work elsewhere??? Shitty employers come in all colours.
Khaya, I normally agree with all your columns, BUT this time I have to, with respect, DISAGREE. You are actually suggesting that all white people are the same, too. With or without ‘advantages’ from apartheid, NOT all white people had the things you mentioned in your piece. I did not get a car when I turned 18. I didn’t automatically get tertiary education. I have had to work DAMN hard to get to where I am today, with very little financial or other kind of support or advantages because I am white. I do not believe that by simply being black or white you are any more or less capable of achieving anything. Black people are too quick to blame their misfortunes on apartheid and white people are too quick to blame their misfortunes on BEE and the new government. Besides I look up to and admire a variety of black men and woman, who despite the odds, emerged from apartheid with medical and law degrees…
Well said Khaya
I would appreciate a another piece on unfairness in the private sector, our economy is mainly made up of the private sector which is predominately white. The government has to literally force firms to employ black people, a lot of white owned companies couldn’t be bothered by the employment equity some only employ black people for BEE deals or government tenders. Let’s look at the unemployment rate how many of those unemployed are white? The Government doesn’t create jobs the public sector does.
All the people disagreeing with Khaya lose me when they refer to what was happening to them in the 1990′s to date, to Black people it is since the 1600′s.
As for racial preferences it is still happening in the corporate world whereby retention packages are offered to whites and they sign confidentiality clauses. When this leaks out they justify it as a skills necessity, a skill that a black person with the same qualification is not afforded because they haven’t been long in the company, which is by no means a black person’s fault, a skilll offered to a white child who was hired on the same day as a black person because “he did his in-service training” which we cannot prove.
Black people have to be vocal in order to be recognised while a white child just has to be there in all his so called white glory.
NO WE ARE NOT THE SAME.
Hi all
very interesting thread – having grown up in SA and having left in 1990 as I was conscripted into the army against my will to possibly shoot my fellow citizens and human beings so I managed to leave with great difficulty.
I find it sad that virtually all the posts above still mention colour – this just reinforces divisions even now 17 years later…………….
I’ve quite a lot of experience of Brazil, which in my opinion is probably one of the least ‘racially divided’ countries I’ve ever experienced. It doesn’t matter about the colour of your skin, just about what you can deliver………..there is no stigma attached to your colour be it in business, relationships etc. Colour is never mentioned, nor is it frowned upon if you see a couple who are mixed, or if your boss is black/brown/white/blue/orange etc etc…………it’s all on merit. Sure, disadvantaged people get extra help, but this is needs assessed, not racially assessed
As always there is a lot of nepotism, but that can be said for virtually any country in the world……………
Well said Khaya, we are not the same.
As much as I don’t bear any grudges against white people, I am realistic about the fact that we’re not the same. If we were the same, I wouldn’t be asked if I was raised abroad by politically active parents everytime I met a new white person.
Truth is, we’re not the same. Although I concur almost completely with Thandiswa, I’m a bit older than her and when I was in school, Model C was not an option (matriculated in the early 90s); if you were black you only went to a private school, if they accepted blacks. Being one of four blacks in my class in primary school and one of two in high school clearly came with a lot of sacrifices back home. My best pals spoke of holidays in the Berg, Kruger and the works, and really, a holiday to my grandparents’ house was all that was left after just buying the basics in school because really, anything else, was just not even worth asking for, being mindful of my working class parents.
Today I am considered to be one of those who “made it”, better so as my TEFSA study loan is paid up too.
Reality is, Khaya is not talking about the minority of cases as the white writers here are now knit-picking and zooming on. What he is talking about is what applies in most cases, and, deny it or not, it is the truth. What we should take home from this is that we need to raise our children in a manner in which a multicultural existence is encouraged and marginalisation due to race is minimised. We need to face up to the fact that Apartheid was a reality and it did disadvantage black people, so, unfortunately, to even tend towards a balance, policies like AA and BEE need to be implemented. Lets stop focussing on the minority and the supposedly harsh AA policies (only because white people are now in a tight corner) and accept that there needs to be a method that tries to correct the errors of the past.
I myself don’t benefit from AA and BEE because I don’t have “the right party’s card”, but I don’t think its worth whining about and focussing all my attention on. I still encourage a multi-culturaly existence as this would move us forward as a society.
Thanks Khaya, I look forward to the next one.
PS: Please can White people move away from the ideas of “green, orange, purlple or blue people”, there’s no such!
The column has a resentful tone, starts a race debate and is of no value.
Nice article Khaya, really nice!
The truth of the matter is that we are not all the same and that’s the sad part!
White people will always try and justify this or that and look at the minority of cases!
Until we dont have townships and skwatta camps where people live in abject poverty, then maybe the gap of us being the same would have been closed, but until then let us not force the issue!
What does Previously Disadvantaged mean?
So if you get a good job, earn good money, drive a fancy car, give your kids the best education…… will you still be categorised as Previously Disadvantaged?
and does the Previously Advantaged become the Currently Disadvantaged?
And the Previously Disadvantaged who is still Currently Disadvantaged…. what happens to them?
Just wondering….. just trying to figure it all out…..
trying to see it all in colour instead of black and white you know…..
Khaya
First column I have ever responded to and trust me to reply to something four months after it was posted. This article/blog/whatever pieces of writings are referred to nowadays was not only refreshing but like most people who replied, it brought back a lot of memories.
I too was born and raised in a location – Sebokeng to be exact – and attended a Bantu school in my early years. Mrs Soap means well by mentioning that her school didn’t have a swimming pool and she too cannot swim as a result. She probably had to use cow dung to polish her classroom floors or had to clean toilets with her school dress neatly tucked in her knickers. Poor white people always assume they suffered the same hardships as their black counterparts, I assure you that this is not the case… basically “sorry white people we are not the same”. Mrs Soap would be considered privileged in black circles. I can just imagine the shock in my auntie’s voice “HAWU she had her first car at 24? she could afford to take her child to hospital? she was allowed to work three jobs? lucky woman!” The point I am making is that my aunt has been working since she was twelve years old and she still uses public transportation.
And Jay, it’s not about the big things such as “getting a car at 18″ or “your parents paying for your tertiary education or paying the deposit on your first house” it’s about the simple things like being seven years old and having to wake up everyday at 04:50am, leaving the house at 06:00am so that you can catch the bus/taxi on time in order to get to school at 07:30am and then still being expected to perform at the same level as your white classmates that live 30 minutes from the school. Oh, I can already hear the “so why don’t you just attend the school 30 minutes from your house?” We tried but the lack of infrastructure and the inadequate education designed to keep black people a permanent working class forced our parents to seek other avenues. Then there was the language issue. To make it easier for white people to understand, imagine your mother-tongue is English but you have to attend a German or Swahili first language school where all subjects are undertaken in those languages. Not only that but you are expected to perform at the same level as those students who are first language German/Swahili speakers. You are also to write, speak and think in these languages. This just goes back to show that black students had to work much harder to get to the same level as their white classmates. I am not complaining, I am simply stating facts… this is why we are not the same and I believe this is what Khaya’s article simply tries to explain.
As for Deedee – your question is very charming so I will try my best to answer it. Previously Disadvantaged refers to Black South Africa without taking current economic situation into consideration. Black South Africa includes Black people, Indians, Coloured people and the SA Chinese were recently included in the definition of Black. In my opinion, if you are Black (as per definition) and you have the good job, earn good money blah blah you should still be considered previously disadvantaged. The reason being a good job does not guarantee economic freedom. At the time when Black people (per definition) can look back and are able to say “I will be going to my gran ma’s summer house in Spain next winter”, at that point, then we can no longer be considered previously disadvantaged. This could be three to four generations from now when Black people can have trust funds for their grand children. Previously advantaged can never be currently disadvantaged – if one allows previous wealth to slip away then one cannot consider themselves disadvantaged. And as for the previously disadvantaged that are still currently disadvantaged…well, that’s Black South Africa. Even the ones with German cars. Colonisation took four hundred years, I think Black South Africa deserves at least four hundred years to even things out
I totally agree. Even if you do currently have economic freedom, downward mobility is still a great possibility for you since you don’t have a backup plan i.e. if you become bankrupt, who will bail you out if your grandparents and parents are poor? I grew up in Sebokeng too and what is interesting for me is that this place is made up of a mix of the poorest of the poor (in the majority and growing in numbers), working class (also in the majority) and black middle class (the Zone 10 and Zone 14 communities).
I also think that black culture is partly to blame for the lack of advancement of black youth, especially in education. There is a stigma attached to going to a school in the suburbs, speaking English with a twang, and acting ‘less African’. Black people need to come to terms with the fact that our culture is not economically dominant in SA and that in order to get ahead in the white man’s world we have to play his game. Black parents have to decide whether they want their children to keep the legacy of their culture going and stay poor or become Westernised and succeed in the private sector. You can’t have both. Let us be realistic!
this is sooooo true! Where we come from is a looooong story of a never-say-die attitude leading to success. People only see the end result but those stories are part of us and stay with us forever.
All of us have a different start. I currently know a woman in the criminal justice sector who works in an affluent sector of the Philadelphia suburbs. Their children are committing suicide. She tells me, “They might have a Porsche in the driveway, but these people have problems.”
Coming from humble backgrounds myself, I can see how strongly you feel about this. It doesn’t matter. You start where you are. It’s the journey that makes it interesting. Did I want it to be easier — you bet! But now, at 50 yrs of age, I am so grateful for the richness life has brought me so far.
Children cleaning a schoolhouse is industrious –thanks to video games, American children are becoming more and more obese. I understand the narrow-mindedness of the man you speak about and I understand that dung shouldn’t be used to polish a floor. But what are you doing to make those situations better?
How can you help foster a sense of well-being in your people without attaching it to status and stuff. (I don’t know if that’s where you were trying to go with it but it sounds like a painful blog — there’s some hurt there for you — how can you all really heal?) And you might not have had as much opportunity when you started but look how far you’ve come! It speaks to your stamina and strength of character.
Your only choice in life is how to respond to your circumstances. Be careful with regret and upset — aren’t they the same?
All the best to you!
I know a lot of white people who can also be considered previously disadvantaged. My father is portuguese. When my grandfather moved to South Africa, who, like so many other Europeans at the time, were seeking better opportunities, he and his family had nothing but the clothes on their backs. His eldes daughter was two years old at the time. They too had nothing and had to scrounge and work hard to get by. My aunt could not speak a word of English when she went to school for the first time. She too had to use public transport. She too did not have what so many of the kids at her school had. Same for my Polish friend and so many other Europeans. My point is, Europeans in this country who are considered white, also had very trialing times. I know that black people have been suffering in South Africa since the 1600s, and God knows, it is not fair what you have been put through; there have been many a time when I have cried after listening to the stories of what black people have been through. But in the end we are all human beings. Humans that are willing to fight and stand against injustice, no matter what the nature thereof. There were white people who also fought for the rights of the black people. Ever heard of Koos Kombuis, Johannes Kerkorrel, Ande Brink, Antjie Krog? It is not about zooming in on exceptional cases on the part of the white people, nor about the fact that more black people suffer than white people; it is about people suffering. I have often defended black people when I have heard conversations where white people complain about black people not paying for electricity or water, and that it is the white people who pay. How can you expect the average worker to pay rent for proper housing, buy food and clothing, send their children to school and still pay for electricity and water when they earn R3000 a month? Life is expensive, and I have never judged. But don’t you think the problem lies with our current government who are not delivering what they promised 17 years ago? Please, I urge you to stop making this a racial issue; all of the bad things that happened in the past is because of racial issues. Lets just stop. It starts with us.
I know a handful of white people who grew up just like you did, terrible elementary school, poor families that they themselves had to support, no money saved for them to go to college! You are ignorant, skin color means NOTHING!
What if there were no white or black and we were all one race ? We would only be Humans . When we all learn to look past the color of our brothers and sisters skin ; only then will we unite to achieve a common goal . The differance between rich and poor has no preferance to color . Those that achieve will recieve and those that do not will not recieve the reward . What we believe ,accept and practice is what makes us what we are , not our skin . I wonder what someone from another world would think about us if they were to come to earth . I Raise My Cup To All Who Will Accept Me !
White supremacy remains the order of the day