This morning The Deal Is tagged me in a post, “Coloured Mentality“.
It got me thinking . . .
To me, the term coloured is a bit confusing when looking at it in the context of “Is jy coloured – wat is ‘n coloured?”.
I mean, my parents never said to me, “Chevone, jy is ‘n coloured” – they just called me by my name. Even now, sitting here after watching this really interesting video, I realised that I’ve never even considered my son within a context of race – to me he is just Kai – a person.
If we use the term coloured to refer to a certain demographic, I must point out that this demographic is by far the MOST DIVERSE. There is a rich cultural history which is difficult to define. There is a flare for the dramatic and linguistic expressions entrenched in a community that, perhaps a few years ago, felt disassociated from this term because it was often used in a derogatory and oppressive manner.
So what makes me a coloured?
The richness of the diversity that flows through my veins, the insight that fills my mind, the knowledge that we are ALL coloured, the perception of others?
Being coloured is a state of mind, it’s a way of being, it’s that insight of knowing that you can overcome anything, that you can be anything you want to be. Being coloured is a freedom of living outside the conventional norms of the limitations that society tends to wrap us in. Being coloured is living on the bright side of life no matter how dark and dull things may seem!
Being coloured is Me. Living with Intent.
I watched this and it resonated with me. I wrote my honours dissertation on being coloured in Swaziland after being exhausted of people constantly telling me I’m not coloured. So what am I then? No I’m not like “them” so I’m can’t be. I love that you describe it as so diverse. It’s impossible to peg a description that’s one size fits all because how would that work. Being coloured is just me too.
You are Jonelle! Once day you must share some of your dissertation with us (your readers)?
I lived 20 years in SA, in all provinces and made friends with all races. The most refreshing and cultural interesting I found the so called “”coloureds”, their cooking, their music, their artistic talents etc.But it was difficult to make friends, for various reasons. I moved on to West-Africa and again I met people from various background, but nobody gave them labels like coloured. They were Djola, Ashanti or Wolof, they all looked different, they felt African, natives to Africa. This was so much easiser to deal with and even so our religions often were different there were no problems.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. You’ve been exposed to the great diversity of Africa, and there is so much that we can learn from others.
This is something I’ve been thinking about all week. I won’t post within your post but I will say that I’m definitely not unhappy about the fact that God created me this way.
“Being coloured is a state of mind, it’s a way of being…” This paragraph resonates with me.
Please feel free to share right here! This is always an interesting topic, because the discourse can go just about anywhere! I love who I am and it has nothing to do with colour of my skin, because this can never define me 😉
Being coloured definitely is a state of mind. An attitude. My post on this has been pending for forever because my political mind needs to really word things in such a way that they cannot be misconstrued. So glad you reopened this for me.
Looking forward to reading your post!
I was interviewed ones for a segment on ENCA that focused on race. My parents never indoctrinated that I am coloured when I was younger. But it was something that I couldn’t ignore as I was always labeled due to the colour of my skin when I had to officially apply for certain things. Do I shy away from the fact that I am coloured? Hell no – it is something that I am proud of. Yes my heritage is difficult to define but it is rich with so much diversity. I must also state that the thing that pisses me off is when people classify and have a preconception of me because of the colour of my skin.
Love this Noleen! It’s so true, we are rich in our diversity and need to own this uniqueness as individuals and as a community.