The blindness of racist South Africa

I am the daughter of freedom fighters. My parents spent the majority of their lives ensuring that I would grow up in an environment that would not be bias towards me because of my skin colour, my gender or my ethnicity.

Hence when Mandela was released from prison, my parents (along with thousands of South Africans) saw hope for a free South Africa and moved us back to South Africa.

Looking back on my schooling career, I was one of very few children of colour in my schools - however we didn't see the fact that so-and-so is white and whoever is black, we were all just children.

And because of my upbringing I struggle a lot with the amount of racial bias I see around me in my adult life on a day to day basis.

I really do struggle with people and their negative racial stereotypes and the fact that some people (of all races) think racial slurs are okay.

This brings me to the matter of the video that went viral on social media on Sunday. 

And for purposes of differentiation, I will describe them by their race.

The story behind the video (allegedly) is that there were two [white] men using an ATM in a shopping centre in Cape Town. A [black] man felt that they were taking too long, and asked them to hurry up. One of the [white] men then called him a k*****.

This is were the video starts and the two men are seen fighting to the point that the [white] man is on the ground and kicked in the face by the [black] man.

Click here to view the video footage

I am in two minds about this video.

Firstly, I am incredibly shocked that in 2014 there are people out there who still insist on using derogatory racial terms. The fact that these words are part of one's vocabulary is shocking and unacceptable.

I do not condone violence of any sort but a part of me gets the anger and fury and rage that went through this man after being called a k***** that led him to this point.

People with racist views and opinions and who see no fault in using racial slurs should be dealt with by the law in the same manner as those who commit assault and many other crimes.

Mainstream media and culture has encouraged the glamification of the K-word's sister term, n*******, but unfortunately as much as these terms are used in urban language and music, their effects are still the same.

The same goes for derogatory terms against Indian people, coloured people, white people, foreigners, homosexual people - and the list goes on.

If you see a person for the negativity associated with their background or lifestyle and refuse to see them for what's inside of their minds, then you need some serious mental cleansing - because a person is not defined by their race, sexuality, religion or gender.

The way I see it, the biggest problem facing South Africans is that we are so hell bent on our differences and segregating ourselves for our differences that we often are blind to the fact that we are all the same.