Student E
I have always been a solid believer in fairness and equality. In everything that I have done I have treated all my peers with the respect and integrity I want returned. However during the October of my final year of study at Parktown High School for Girls my friends and I were subjected to an act of Racism when a fellow learner referred to us as “Bloody Kaffirs” because she did not make it into the school’s Hockey Team.
This hurt incredibly because in my past five years at Parktown I had learned to see people only as Blue and not Black or White. Furthermore, it is people like us, the disadvantaged students who suffer directly from the results of Apartheid; however continue to show respect and honour to everyone irrespective of colour. By the following day the word of this event had spread around the entire school and the more it was spoken of the further learners moved from hurt to fury. It was at this point it became clear to us that the victims would soon turn into the perpetrators as all African Senior Students at school were planning to take matters into their own hands.
To try and avoid a huge battle of races my friends and I wrote a letter to the school’s head mistresses calling for intervention. A committee was set up to deal with this escalating problem.
My friends and I did not want the young lady to be dealt with too severely because we understood that it was not a deliberate offense she did but rather a result of the uncertainties that most South Africans suffer because of Apartheid. Conversely, we did not want the problem merely swept under the rug, so we proceeded to request that the young lady be made to apologize to all African Students at Parktown. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: She apologized for her actions and swore to try and get counseling for her temper.
Everyone was happy that she was taking steps to rectify all she did wrong, but I was more relieved because for the first time Parktown High School for Girls had engaged in a meaningful dialogue about a matter that was felt by all but raised by none.
If asked to go back into the past, I would change nothing of this experience because it was a huge learning curve for us all. This issue, of racism, is an affair that none of us will take with us as we embark on a new chapter of our lives. The future of a nation really does lie in the hands of its youth and if we carry the baggage and legacy of Apartheid then we as a people would be living through its intentions and would be headed into a future filled with devastation.
This experienced changed nothing of my views towards Racism but rather strengthened me in my fight for equality. I respect the young lady now for changing her views on this issues, the teachers who dealt with it with sensitivity and fairness and all the African Students at Parktown for voicing their views in the quest of eliminating all the traces of Apartheid in the move towards a proper rainbow nation.
