I have received many questions a particular aspect of Cape Town (and South Africa in general) that I promised I would answer at some point in time in my blog. I feel that since I have been in South Africa for a few weeks now, right now is the best time for me to express my personal views on the topic as well as what I have experienced being here. This entry in no way is trying to force any sort of particular opinion on anyone, and it's sole purpose is to give readers an insight into a part of South African history, and the current culture which I am having the privilege of experiencing.
The topic is the abolishment of the Apartheid.
For those of you who don't know about the Apartheid, I am going to give you a brief history here about it.
"Apartheid" is an afrikaans word meaning "apart ness" and officially was implemented in 1948. As many of us know, racial segregation and classification has been a part of South African history as well as American history for many centuries, ever since both nations have been colonized by the europeans. In South Africa, however, 1948 was the year in which the national party government of South Africa implemented the Apartheid, and with it came strict enforcements in which people were classified as "white, coloured, bantus (black) or asian". These classifications forced people to live and work in segregated areas, sometimes by sheer force. Bantus (blacks) were considered the most inferior of all the different races, and were therefore the most harshly segregated of all. It wasn't until 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela to the presidency of South Africa, that the Apartheid was abolished.
As you can see from my brief and depressing history lesson above, the apartheid divided this beautiful nation for 46 years. It didn't become evident to me how much evidence of the apartheid still lingers until about the second day I got here. If you go back in my blog to a few days in, you will notice that I went to a particular restaurant named "Cafe Sofia" on Kloof street which I adore to pieces (it has a cheap yet very yummy breakfast special for about 3 dollars). Well what I didn't put in that particular blog post (on purpose) was that when I sat down in Cafe Sofia and was just nursing my coffee and looking at the news paper I noticed something peculiar about the cafe. There were about 30 or 40 people in the cafe. Of all the people sitting down, none were black. All were white. All the servers were all black. I honestly didn't think much of it, until I left and was walking down the street. Looking at the maintenance people, the custodians cleaning, the waiters and waitresses in the restaurants and cafes. . they were all black. It bothered me so much that when I got home, I started reading about the Apartheid a bit before I went to bed that night. Ever since I noticed these things though, I have been disturbed in regards to it.
I do have to constantly remind myself to keep things in perspective. It has only been 17 years since the Apartheid has been abolished. Joy reminds me whenever I ask her a question in regards to race issues here, because she has a good way of expressing to me things that are just "accepted" here. For example, when I was in the grocery store the other day, I noticed a lot of couples in the store (yes I noticed this because being female and being single is apparently an impending sign of spinsterhood for a 21 year old, (see robben island entry)). I asked Joy (these was during our lunch break) if there were any interracial couples around here. I had noticed that all the couples in the store were the same race (white with white or black with black) and she gave me a funny look and said "That is unheard of here. You will never see a couple like that here."
Of course, me being a product of an interracial marriage ( my father is black and my mother is european) had me disturbed yet again. Had my parents been South African their union would've been unheard of, and I would've probably been an abomination.
Funny enough, during tea break Joy asked me if I would ever consider marrying an African man. I told her the same thing that someone once told me.
"Joy, for me, love knows no color"
She seemed very pleased with my answer for whatever reason, and then we started discussing Kenyan tribes, and the naming scheme behind the tribes. Funny enough, Joy is from the same tribe as my friend Mark, and now I know the secret behind his middle and surname. .
Of course I wish the best for this country. I hope that someday that invisible divide that still exists here between whites and blacks can be completely rid of. I don't know when that will happen or how that will happen, but I hope that it does eventually happen. This country has the capacity to do so. I believe it really does, but for some unknown reason it is crawling to achieve this. A nation can be at it's strongest when it is completely united, and I hope that South Africa will eventually become completely united.
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