Being a young black person isnt about apartheid. Being a young white person in this day and age shouldn't be about apartheid. We are all not immune to insanity. What we must keep in mind is that we all live on water and food and cut us and we bleed the same blood. That's all. I recently read a few comments on a picture about two young women who have painted themselves brown, I do not believe the negative reaction was uncalled for. It saddens me to know that there are still people in this world who believe that other kinds of people are lesser beings. The picture can be accepted as a joke, the comments from young white south africans about the reaction is a chilling reminder of the legacy of apartheid.
I was in the kitchen when my little brother comes up to me and says " So N*gga and K*ffir are brothers?", I wasn't shocked - dude asks a lot of questions like this - I was just diseapointed that he already knew these words without their history or meaning. I sat him down and we thought on it for a minute ; I didnt know where to start, do I tell him about racism and oppression first or respect and anti-ignorantness? I couldnt decide so I just delved right into racism and words used to subjectify, label and oppress, I told him that it goes both ways, that any one of any race can be a racist if they are prejudists. By the time I had finished explaining the book by Steve Biko ' I write what I like' he still looked confused and he asked, " So these words only hurt people who care too much about them? Why dont we just pretend it never meant what it did before?", I almost cracked up, dude is right; we give weight to these words. By being overly sensitive about ...
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