I haven't posted anything on Erase Nothing in the longest time because I've been busy with Drop Your Drink and being busy there doesn't require me to think about uncomfortable things. Something has been bothering me for a while now and it's related to being a 'foreign' black person in South Africa. I say foreign with inverted commas because technically I'm South African, I've lived here for 90.9% of my life but my parents are from other countries. You might have picked up things were heading this way because of the interracial dating and identity posts I did a long while ago. This post is about being a black foreign person in South Africa and why it sucks.
Things I have to deal with:
- Black South Africans greeting me in anything but English and not only expecting me to reply in that language but also being disappointed when I don't. The common line, "I only speak English," is normally greeted with sneer or confusion.
- Knowing that certain terms like "Economic Refugee" refer to me.
Let's start with the language problem. What grates me is that it's not like this in other African countries. If English is a main official language then the first language call is English. People don't assume you speak their language just because you're black. They are 11 official languages in South Africa, 9 of which are African languages, why do you assume that I'm Zulu and greet me accordingly? I could be Venda and not know what you're saying. I say, 'Hello', and you should be able to pick up immediately that I don't quite sound right but you choose to ignore the slight accent and the fact that I'm using English then things have to get awkward.
In recent times I have witnessed a new form of xenophobia and it doesn't come from townships fed up with foreigners 'stealing' their business, possessions and livelihoods. It comes from educated professionals and students. Somehow it's okay to jokingly say things like, "You people ran away from your countries," "You've lived here for so long, why haven't you learnt anything but Afrikaans?" or "Go back to where you came from". Apparently I'm supposed to laugh at jokes like this.
Most of the time I find I just don't fit in anywhere. I'm labelled as a coconut because I speak English and learnt Afrikaans, not a black South African language. Therefore I'm not black enough, white enough, South African enough or foreign enough because I've lived here for so long. So the only option is to "go back to your country" but when you've lived here for so long you're kind of not from there anymore. South Africa might be the only home you know, and by going back you're different, kind of foreign again. What a lovely life this is. I don't know why there is such such division or why it's okay for things to be like this. I guess there is no hope, except to move to countries where it's okay to be different. Anyone heading to the UK or US?
Things I have to deal with:
- Black South Africans greeting me in anything but English and not only expecting me to reply in that language but also being disappointed when I don't. The common line, "I only speak English," is normally greeted with sneer or confusion.
- Knowing that certain terms like "Economic Refugee" refer to me.
Let's start with the language problem. What grates me is that it's not like this in other African countries. If English is a main official language then the first language call is English. People don't assume you speak their language just because you're black. They are 11 official languages in South Africa, 9 of which are African languages, why do you assume that I'm Zulu and greet me accordingly? I could be Venda and not know what you're saying. I say, 'Hello', and you should be able to pick up immediately that I don't quite sound right but you choose to ignore the slight accent and the fact that I'm using English then things have to get awkward.
In recent times I have witnessed a new form of xenophobia and it doesn't come from townships fed up with foreigners 'stealing' their business, possessions and livelihoods. It comes from educated professionals and students. Somehow it's okay to jokingly say things like, "You people ran away from your countries," "You've lived here for so long, why haven't you learnt anything but Afrikaans?" or "Go back to where you came from". Apparently I'm supposed to laugh at jokes like this.
Most of the time I find I just don't fit in anywhere. I'm labelled as a coconut because I speak English and learnt Afrikaans, not a black South African language. Therefore I'm not black enough, white enough, South African enough or foreign enough because I've lived here for so long. So the only option is to "go back to your country" but when you've lived here for so long you're kind of not from there anymore. South Africa might be the only home you know, and by going back you're different, kind of foreign again. What a lovely life this is. I don't know why there is such such division or why it's okay for things to be like this. I guess there is no hope, except to move to countries where it's okay to be different. Anyone heading to the UK or US?
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