So, are we really “black”? Even the darkest of us are not “black” according to it’s strictest definition. I once heard someone adamantly claim they were “Carbon” in colour. Conversely, are “white” people really “white”? Surely we recognise the terms black and white to refer to a relative symbolism and approximation of our skin colour. This colour symbolism is a learned code which more prominently in the past, but still today is used to determine status in society, and there are all kinds of associations and assumptions attached to colour as part of various social codes embedded in cultures across the world.
What does the term “coloured” mean? Surely everyone has a colour, or they would be transparent? It seems this term was used in the Apartheid era in South Africa particularly, to describe a mix of people who were neither “black” or “white”. “Coloured” people were not as low in status as “black” people. The difficulty we have now is that people appear to be clinging to the use of these terms. Should we not be rethinking all of this? Why should we continue to use terms which were invented by brutal regimes to describe people so that those brutal people could make everyone think they were superior to anyone else?
I definitely think we should re-think the terms we use now, to shape the future we want. I don’t believe we can continue in the paths laid down for us by the brutal and expect our future to be shaped positively when using tho