My Coloured Aunty in Mitchells Plain Feels Marginalised
In 1994 I told my aunty in Mitchells Plain to stop referring to me as coloured as I want to be to referred to as black from now on.
“…but we’re not black,” she said. “We’re coloured!”
“You children are far too involved with politics.”
“Your great grandfather on your mother’s side was from Germany,” she continued.
I pointed to my brown skin, to which she replied: “Don’t get cheeky with me, young lady!”
“Look at your brother,” she said. “He can pass as white.”
My Mitchells Plain aunty and I are not speaking at the moment. We agreed to resume our familial relationship next Thursday, after the elections.
She however told my mother that she doesn’t feel like the SABC was treating coloureds right.
“They never show us on tv,” she told Mom. “It’s always blacks on SABC 1 and whites on SABC2 and Americans on SABC3.”
“No one cares about us coloureds and that Zuma will make matters worse.”
My aunty was happy to hear that the coloured cause was being taken up by the South African Movement for Equality – acronym SAME.
SAME (old same old) are taking those darn SABC people to court so my aunty can listen to coloured FM radio stations and maybe get a coloured back on Generations.
Considering her latest tirade, maybe it will take a bit longer than 23 April for my Mitchells Plain aunty and I to reconcile.
2 Responses to “My Coloured Aunty in Mitchells Plain Feels Marginalised”
By Nigel Perkett on May 5, 2009 | Reply
Hi Abigail,
Your situation is not unique at all,there are many coloureds that feel they should be classified black or vice versa white,the question what happens to the rest who feel they want to be coloured and how do we deal with it,Your aunty has her right to classified coloured,but let me tell you up today the Black,White,Coloured,Asian is in the constitution but yet to be defined,question we always ask what me you black,skin colour,traditions,where you born,support the ANC,Culture,etc therefore let your aunty take her rightful place Unashemedly Proudly South African Coloured,
PLEASE SEE ATTACHED LINK
Director of SAME
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition
/colouredmedia
hhttp://www.same.org.za/filez/Open_%20Letter_to_the_SABC_from_SAME-30March2009.pdf
Director OF
By Abigail Abrahams on May 5, 2009 | Reply
Hi Nigel,
I’m acknowledge my South African mixed race heritage wholeheartedly.
As you’ve said, being coloured is complicated. It’s not just one thing – it’s a mixture of religions, nationalities, political affiliations and ethnicities.
As such I cannot see how your organisation can want representation for such a broad community.
We already have radio stations like Voice of the Cape and CCFM that speaks to religious coloureds. So what more do you want?
Would your organisation be catering for the more narrow minded coloured – the one who refer to blacks as darkies or the ones who say they can’t speak Afrikaans, or the ones who vote DA or the ones who vote ANC? Because these are all very different people.
Personally, I would much rather celebrate being South African than to celebrate a nametag that was given to me by an apartheid government.