Apartheid has long ended.
But unfortunately we are still suffering from it.
I still feel the effects of it.
Everyone is.
It may not be the violence or the segregation or the forceful removals
But the patronising, humiliating undertones directed towards us.
The backhanded acknowledgement
The disparaging remarks.
They take a swipe at everything that we do.
Yes, Apartheid the regime and racial policy is gone.
But the subtle and indirect discrimination and prejudice is still lingering.
What is your name?
( Jasmine is not a Black name.)
What school is that?
( Bloody township schools.)
What did you say?
( Oh, you mean…)
You are pretty
( For a black girl.)
Where did you get this kind of necklace
( It’s probably stolen.)
You speak English well.
(I couldn’t have imagined it.)
Interracial relationship,huh?
( I could never chow jungle.)
You live here?
( Can’t you see it’s a white suburb or rather can you afford to live here?)
That’s your car and house?
( Do black people have that much money?)
This thesis was written by you?
( Are Black people that intelligent?)
Your hair is distracting the other learners.
( Why don’t you just straighten it?)
You want to enroll her here in our school?
( You know that she doesn’t belong here, right?)
We have a strict dress code.
(Your african hairstyles ruin our school image.)
Your son started the fight.
( Black males are so aggressive.)
Reservations are full in our restaurant, I am sorry.
( We don’t serve your type here.)
You people.
( Bloody k’s)
We are seeing and hearing it all.
Somehow, we are still prisoners in our own country.
Yes, Apartheid may have ended
And racism lessened
But it definitely still there.
It tries to keep rearing its ugly head.
Whispering now and again.
It shows we still have a long way to go if we are still hearing people say,
(Black people think we owe them something.)
(They want too much too fast)
(They are infiltrating our spaces now)
Where is the rainbow nation we pride ourselves to be?
Or are we fooling the outside world?
When truly we are a nation divided against each other.
All I can say is,
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho.
God make us love one another
Despite our differences.
Make us unite and stand together.
To become the rainbow nation we envisioned.
In South Africa, our land.