COLOR ME COLOURED/COLOUR ME COLORED...
Race classification and its associated discrimination was one of the most evil manifestations of the apartheid era in South Africa. Some laws were meant to be broken, so the infamous 1950 Population Registration Act, which attempted to identify people according to their "race", was a glaring example of the stupidity of man. In this case, I'm referring to the "stupid white men" who were the architects, the race designers, of such a law (not to take anything away from Michael Moore's best-selling book by that title).
The Nazi's had various methods of determining who was a Jew, what was a Slav, and who was any number of "lesser" examples of humanity--beneath the proud, blonde, blue-eyed Aryan, of course. They measured noses: the width, the length, extension from the face, etc. Their "scientists" measured cranial capacity, arriving at certain conclusions regarding Slavic peoples. They actually learned about eugenics from folks in the United States...adding their potent racist theories to the mix for determining race classification. The Nazi race dogma attracted idealogues from South Africa. Figures, huh?
Way before DNA testing, the apartheid engineers devised a rather simple method to determine the race of individuals in S.A. They took a standard, government-issue HB pencil and ran it through the hair of the person in question. If said pencil ramained in the hair, then it was pronounced that the person was "coloured." Ask any older, so-called "coloured" person today about the "pencil test", and one is just about guaranteed to witness a look of disdain, perhaps horror. You might even find extreme anger.
By the way, the word "coloured" is the way they spell colored here. I've never been able to determine why they do it that way. I am being badgered by people who insist on posing the question to me: "Why are you so fascinated by the coloured thing?" Simply put, I am NOT fascinated by the business of Coloured (it was law that the word be capitalized)--the apartheid, physiological trait-mongers, were the ones who tinkered with race classification.
My interest in the subject is shaped by American history. You know, we identified the Negro as colored/black (or by using other names, much more demeaning/insulting). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to the colored race; he interspersed the word Negro quite often when talking about his race of people.
It was okay to refer to blacks as colored or Negro when I was a youngster in the late 1940's, into the '50's. The 1960's ushered in the use of the word Blacks (notice the capitalization), when referring to the aforementioned colored or Negro peoples. Sometime during the tumultuous '60's the accepted reference became Afro-American (with the hyphen). Afro-centric language and thinking became vogue, mainstream. Later, the acceptable way to address someone of color was as an African American (no hyphen).
Now there are profound arguments concerning where the emphasis should be: on the African or the American...or both evenly divided, etc. It gets complicated, right? Well, I dare say that someone of my pigmentation had better not ever refer to an African American as a "colored" person. It matters not how light or dark someone is in America...if there is the slightest-lightest bit of color in said individual, then that person is designated African American (Tiger Woods, for example). My students back home refer to classmates as "mixed" if they are not sure about their "race."
Anyway, the "colored" designation is long gone in American life and culture. Not in South Africa, not by a long shot. The population here was classified into four groups: White, Indian, Coloured, and Black (don't forget the capitalization law). The Coloured group included people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent (with some Malay ancestry, especially noted in what is now Western Cape Province).
Things got so bizarre with the race barons of apartheid that in some cases, different members of the same family found themselves in different race groups. They even devised tests more complicated than the previously mentioned pencil and hair application to determine membership in various sub-groups of the Coloured "race."
Finally, during most of thed era of legally formalized apartheid (from about 1951 to 1983), voting rights were denied to Coloured folk in the way they were denied to Blacks. Eventually, the S.A. Constitution was amended to allow Coloured and Asian "citizens" a sliver of voting rights. The Black majority was to be granted citizenship in independent homelands--13% of the land in South Africa (the most desolate wastelands, of course). The rest, 87%, was designated for the Whites, Coloured, and Indian population. Some Asian peoples, in particular visiting Japanese businessmen, would be given the "title" of "honorary Whites." This was to facilitate their stays at hotels, restaurants, etc., during the apartheid era.
Remnants of the apartheid era are still painfully evident in South Africa. I've learned that some folks are perfectly comfortable referring to themselves as being "Coloured." Oh, I guess it doesn't have to be capitalized anymore! There are those who do not like the term coloured. Like America, it's a "mine-field" out there for anyone willing to allow their designations fly around with political incorrectness.
My next blog posting will feature a man who refers to himself as a coloured person. His colour has little to do with why I found him to be "fascinating." The gentleman is fascinating because of his personal history, his vibrant personality, and his unique stature as a professional educator of note in South Africa. Stay tuned!
The Nazi's had various methods of determining who was a Jew, what was a Slav, and who was any number of "lesser" examples of humanity--beneath the proud, blonde, blue-eyed Aryan, of course. They measured noses: the width, the length, extension from the face, etc. Their "scientists" measured cranial capacity, arriving at certain conclusions regarding Slavic peoples. They actually learned about eugenics from folks in the United States...adding their potent racist theories to the mix for determining race classification. The Nazi race dogma attracted idealogues from South Africa. Figures, huh?
Way before DNA testing, the apartheid engineers devised a rather simple method to determine the race of individuals in S.A. They took a standard, government-issue HB pencil and ran it through the hair of the person in question. If said pencil ramained in the hair, then it was pronounced that the person was "coloured." Ask any older, so-called "coloured" person today about the "pencil test", and one is just about guaranteed to witness a look of disdain, perhaps horror. You might even find extreme anger.
By the way, the word "coloured" is the way they spell colored here. I've never been able to determine why they do it that way. I am being badgered by people who insist on posing the question to me: "Why are you so fascinated by the coloured thing?" Simply put, I am NOT fascinated by the business of Coloured (it was law that the word be capitalized)--the apartheid, physiological trait-mongers, were the ones who tinkered with race classification.
My interest in the subject is shaped by American history. You know, we identified the Negro as colored/black (or by using other names, much more demeaning/insulting). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to the colored race; he interspersed the word Negro quite often when talking about his race of people.
It was okay to refer to blacks as colored or Negro when I was a youngster in the late 1940's, into the '50's. The 1960's ushered in the use of the word Blacks (notice the capitalization), when referring to the aforementioned colored or Negro peoples. Sometime during the tumultuous '60's the accepted reference became Afro-American (with the hyphen). Afro-centric language and thinking became vogue, mainstream. Later, the acceptable way to address someone of color was as an African American (no hyphen).
Now there are profound arguments concerning where the emphasis should be: on the African or the American...or both evenly divided, etc. It gets complicated, right? Well, I dare say that someone of my pigmentation had better not ever refer to an African American as a "colored" person. It matters not how light or dark someone is in America...if there is the slightest-lightest bit of color in said individual, then that person is designated African American (Tiger Woods, for example). My students back home refer to classmates as "mixed" if they are not sure about their "race."
Anyway, the "colored" designation is long gone in American life and culture. Not in South Africa, not by a long shot. The population here was classified into four groups: White, Indian, Coloured, and Black (don't forget the capitalization law). The Coloured group included people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent (with some Malay ancestry, especially noted in what is now Western Cape Province).
Things got so bizarre with the race barons of apartheid that in some cases, different members of the same family found themselves in different race groups. They even devised tests more complicated than the previously mentioned pencil and hair application to determine membership in various sub-groups of the Coloured "race."
Finally, during most of thed era of legally formalized apartheid (from about 1951 to 1983), voting rights were denied to Coloured folk in the way they were denied to Blacks. Eventually, the S.A. Constitution was amended to allow Coloured and Asian "citizens" a sliver of voting rights. The Black majority was to be granted citizenship in independent homelands--13% of the land in South Africa (the most desolate wastelands, of course). The rest, 87%, was designated for the Whites, Coloured, and Indian population. Some Asian peoples, in particular visiting Japanese businessmen, would be given the "title" of "honorary Whites." This was to facilitate their stays at hotels, restaurants, etc., during the apartheid era.
Remnants of the apartheid era are still painfully evident in South Africa. I've learned that some folks are perfectly comfortable referring to themselves as being "Coloured." Oh, I guess it doesn't have to be capitalized anymore! There are those who do not like the term coloured. Like America, it's a "mine-field" out there for anyone willing to allow their designations fly around with political incorrectness.
My next blog posting will feature a man who refers to himself as a coloured person. His colour has little to do with why I found him to be "fascinating." The gentleman is fascinating because of his personal history, his vibrant personality, and his unique stature as a professional educator of note in South Africa. Stay tuned!
posted by JOBURG JOURNAL at 2:10 AM
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