Today has been just interesting. Nothing really profound happened in class today. He did give us a 15 to 20 page research paper due in 10 days though. The weird thing about this paper is that it's a group paper. I have never done a group research paper before, but I am excited I don't have to do all the citing. =] The interesting part of today happened on the train ride home.
A girl from Stellenbosch University started talking to me and she brought up Apartheid. Some of the things she said about it really confused me. She told me that the colored people have it worse now that Apartheid is over and that the education is worse now. I don't know if the actual education is better or not, but I do know that during the Apartheid colored people were only allowed to be cops, nurses, and teachers. When I brought this up she dismissed it like that wasn't a big deal. Apparently not being allowed to do anything other than those three things isn't a big deal. Side note: she is in school for design. I gues it wouldn't be a big deal if the government changed her mind for her. She also shared that Apartheid was just a battle between white and black people and that the colored people were just "stuck in the middle". She says that they weren't really affected in the Apartheid because it didn't "involve them". She informed me that Apartheid wasn't very bad in Cape Town or in Stellenbosch (where it was created) but that it only hit Johanasburg really hard. She says that Johanasburg is still dealing with race issues worse than they have here which surprises me because everyone I have spoken to here has said that Johanasburg is way more integrated than Cape Town or Stellenbosch. She then told me that in Stellenbosch and Cape Town that they were just laid back about the whole thing and just figure it's in the past and that nobody really cares about it anymore. I am assuming by nobody she means her and her white South African friends. She then proceeded to tell me about how America never had laws against people of color (that's right people, Jim Crow Laws never existed). She told me that the South is the only place there was slavery and when I informed her that she was wrong, she tried to tell me I wasn't. I was about to be like, "Hellooooo! I live there, remember?" I guess I can't expect her to understand US history when she refuses to accept South Africa's history. I was actually amused and annoyed more than angry. I know she wasn't joking, but I just couldn't bring myself to take her seriously. Surely she must know that she is wrong. I can see if she was ignorant about America because she doesn't live there, but ignorant about where she lives? How do you not know this stuff? Why wouldn't she believe me when I shared what had actually happened in America? I know there were times I must have been looking at her funny, but I really just had no idea how to react to what she was saying. The ignorance and arrogance shocked me, but I don't feel angry. It's pointless to be angry at a person like that, but it was very interesting.
I know I sound like a broken record, but please don't think all white South Africans are like that because they aren't. I have met many wonderful white South Africans who could care less if you were white, black, colored, blue, orange, or purple. I just really hope that the majority of people aren't like the girl from the train.
Tyler decided to go out and rent a movie and we are just going to hang out for the rest of the evening. By hang out I mean that I will be setting up the frame work for my part of the 15 to 20 page research paper. I am so glad I made pasta salad last night because I really don't feel like cooking tonight. Haha. Hamba Kukuhle.
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