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Rastafari Speaks Archive 1

Re: freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whitenes

I think the whole thing about racial supremacy/inferiority is something that one is taught. I am basing this view on my own experience, so I am not saying that this will apply to race relations elsewhere.

I belong to the Born Free generation of Zimbabwe. My parents grew up during a time of segregation, as in separate facilities etc. At Independence we moved to the suburbs, before that, you couldn't do it no matter how rich you were. Those whites that could not accept the new order of things left- my nursery school photo has only three black faces. By the time I was in junior school, we had about 3 white kids in my class, some Asian, and the rest Black. Of these Blacks, several were from Malawi, Zambia, Nigeria etc.

Looking back, there was a lot of discomfort in the older generation. I remember saying to my mother, " Is it OK if I bring friends over to play with after school". I turn up with a bunch of white kids. My mother pulled me aside, " You did not tell me they were white!" she hissed. " We will get shot!" I could not see the fuss, but a few years earlier, that is exactly what would have happened. The parents of those kids would have been arrested for being "communists" and "sympathetic to terrorists". My own folks would have been given a long lecture about the "order of things".

My mother is opposed to us marrying not only outside the race, but outside Zimbabwe as well.It is not about the colour, she explained to me, it is the way of life, the different cultures. But she also respects the fact that cross-marriages will happen, and she would never stand in our way.

We were brought up to respect all people, regardless of their race, and to expect the same. I have always divided people in to good people and bad. You can't pretend not see a person's race, but there are other sub-divisions too. A well-educated English man would make far better company for me than his boorish unschooled counterpart who thinks Africa is a country sharing a border with Nigeria and they all live in trees and eat people.

The first racist incident- the ones I had before were in Zimbabwe and these had to do with me being a Rastafarian rather than my skin -was when I came to England. And this was at the hands of a Black Jamaican.

Not to say that Zimbabwe does not have race problems at all. We have, but we also have class problems, religious problems. Being Zimbabweans however, we accept differences and are appalled at the thought of violenec against one another. It would be utterly naive of me to think that all Zimbabwean whites have accepted that their priviledged status is no more and will never come back.But there are more indications that we will all see a time when the colour of a man- or woman's skin is of no significance.

Messages In This Thread

Barbados: White Rasta director of African Affairs *LINK*
freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whiteness'
Re: freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whitenes
Re: freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whitenes
Re: freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whitenes
Re: freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whitenes
Re: freespirit, all 'white people' suffa 'whitenes
we could all use a little healing
Re: Barbados: White Rasta director of African Affa
Freespirit right to reply multiculturally
Re: Freespirit right to reply multiculturally
Re: Freespirit right to reply multiculturally
Re: Freespirit right to reply multiculturally
Rasta is more than a few clichés
Re: Rasta is more than a few clichés
All they seem to see is a 'white' skin
Re: Rasta is more than a few clichés
Re: Rasta is more than a few clichés
Re: Barbados: White Rasta director of African Affa
Re: Barbados: White Rasta director of African Affa


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