Apartheid is Over: Racial Perceptions Still Exist

This week in class we learned more about apartheid and the segregation between white, blacks, coloureds, and Indians. In South Africa, coloured has a different meaning than someone from the United States would view the term. In the US, the term colored has negative connotations linked to slavery and the treatment of blacks during that time. In South Africa though, coloured represents the people of mixed race and these individuals are proud to proclaim that they are coloured. During apartheid when individuals were being separated into different townships, the color of their skin was often used to determine what race category they would fit into. These classifications brought about racial perceptions based on skin color that still exists today in South Africa and the United States.

After experiencing such a history that was so racially involved, it would be impossible not to talk about race in South Africa today. To show that these racial perceptions still exist, we watched a film called “A Girl Like Me”. In this film teenage girls of different skin complexions spoke to the struggles they face. The Kenneth Clark study was depicted in the film where black children were asked to chose which doll, black or white, was smarter, prettier, and better. In most cases the children chose the white doll signifying that they still believe in some way that white is better than black.

This was very heartbreaking to see, especially because I am black. I could relate with many of the ideas in the video. This class also got me thinking whether I would be considered black or coloured in South Africa. Even though I’m not South African, I am just curious as to what I would be. Jan told a story of a past group where the black students were given African names by one of the South African men, but one lighter skinned black student didn’t get a name probably because she would have been considered coloured. I could probably go on and on about skin color and race, but I’ll just stop here in hopes that I will get an African name by someone in Cape Town J