"We are not anti-white, we are against white supremacy … we have condemned racialism no matter by whom it is professed."
Nelson Mandela, defence statement during the Treason Trial, 1961.
Skin (2008)A dark-skinned girl born to white South African parents attempts to explore her
identity in the era of apartheid as her government, her parents, and society as a whole struggle with what it means to be a black child of Caucasian descent in a nation deeply divided by race. The year is 1955. Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) has just been born to a pair of white Afrikaner parents, her brown skin and curly hair the surprising result of genetic throwback. As the government's rigid apartheid system struggles with whether to classify Sandra as white or black, the young girl and her parents gradually realize that the complications they face due to her appearance run deep and wide. Sandra lives in a society where the color of your skin determines the outcome of your life, and though she is eventually granted admission to an all-white school, she suffers endless torment from her intolerant classmates. Her father, Abraham (Sam Neill), is having a particularly difficult time accepting his daughter. Despite the fact that tests indicate he is her biological father, the neighbors constantly whisper behind their backs. And while Sandra's mother (Alice Krige) does her best to provide her daughter with understanding and emotional support, those consolations come at a high price for both mother and daughter. Her parents believe it's their daughter's birthright that she live as a white woman, though only after she grows up and falls in love with a black man will the conflicted Sandra finally find the strength to embrace her true identity as an African woman. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi (sourced from Rotten Tomatoes) |
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The real Sandra Laing
Please remember to watch the documentary "Skin Deep" on the "Skin" DVD
Sandra Laing (born 1955) is a woman who was born to white parents but reclassified as Coloured during the apartheid era in South Africa as she has dark skin. She is the subject of the 2008 biographical film Skin and is the feature of the documentaries In Search of Sandra Laing (1977), Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey (2000) and Skin Deep: The Story of Sandra Laing (2009).
Sandra was born in Piet Retief, a small conservative town in apartheid South Africa. Both Sandra's parents and all her grandparents were white. Her older brother was also white but Sandra and her younger brother had African features. Sandra's parents were both members of the National Party and supporters of the Apartheid system.
During apartheid, schools were segregated; however, since both her parents were white, she was sent to an all-white school. Her parents hoped that as she got older she would get lighter; however, instead she grew darker and her hair
became more tightly coiled. At boarding school she was shunned by the other students because of her skin color.
When Sandra was 10 years old, the school authorities expelled her from her all-white school based on the complexion of her skin and a failed pencil
test. She was escorted home by two police officers who refused to tell her what she had done wrong. Her parents fought several legal battles to have her declared white. Her father underwent a blood typing test for paternity in the 1960s, as DNA tests were not yet available. The results were compatible with him being her biological father.
Since she was shunned by the white community, Laing's only friends were the children of black employees. At age 15, she eloped with a black South African to
Swaziland. She was jailed for three months for illegal border-crossing. Her father threatened to kill her and broke off contact with her. They never met again and she remained estranged from her family, with the exception of secret trips to visit her mother at times when her father was away from the home. When her parents moved away from Piet Retief, the secret visits were no longer possible and Laing lost contact with her family completely.
Years after the death of her father, Laing managed to track down her mother, Sannie, in a nursing home shortly before the woman died in 2001, but a succession of strokes had stolen Sannie's memory. A book called When She Was White by Judith Stone reports that Sannie did remember Sandra and was happy to see her. As of 2009, Sandra Laing's brothers, both of whom were still alive, were maintaining their refusal to have any contact with her, though she said in an interview that she continued to hope they would some day have a change of heart.
Sandra Laing (born 1955) is a woman who was born to white parents but reclassified as Coloured during the apartheid era in South Africa as she has dark skin. She is the subject of the 2008 biographical film Skin and is the feature of the documentaries In Search of Sandra Laing (1977), Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey (2000) and Skin Deep: The Story of Sandra Laing (2009).
Sandra was born in Piet Retief, a small conservative town in apartheid South Africa. Both Sandra's parents and all her grandparents were white. Her older brother was also white but Sandra and her younger brother had African features. Sandra's parents were both members of the National Party and supporters of the Apartheid system.
During apartheid, schools were segregated; however, since both her parents were white, she was sent to an all-white school. Her parents hoped that as she got older she would get lighter; however, instead she grew darker and her hair
became more tightly coiled. At boarding school she was shunned by the other students because of her skin color.
When Sandra was 10 years old, the school authorities expelled her from her all-white school based on the complexion of her skin and a failed pencil
test. She was escorted home by two police officers who refused to tell her what she had done wrong. Her parents fought several legal battles to have her declared white. Her father underwent a blood typing test for paternity in the 1960s, as DNA tests were not yet available. The results were compatible with him being her biological father.
Since she was shunned by the white community, Laing's only friends were the children of black employees. At age 15, she eloped with a black South African to
Swaziland. She was jailed for three months for illegal border-crossing. Her father threatened to kill her and broke off contact with her. They never met again and she remained estranged from her family, with the exception of secret trips to visit her mother at times when her father was away from the home. When her parents moved away from Piet Retief, the secret visits were no longer possible and Laing lost contact with her family completely.
Years after the death of her father, Laing managed to track down her mother, Sannie, in a nursing home shortly before the woman died in 2001, but a succession of strokes had stolen Sannie's memory. A book called When She Was White by Judith Stone reports that Sannie did remember Sandra and was happy to see her. As of 2009, Sandra Laing's brothers, both of whom were still alive, were maintaining their refusal to have any contact with her, though she said in an interview that she continued to hope they would some day have a change of heart.
Anthony Fabian (director)
Anthony Fabian is a producer and director of feature films, shorts, documentaries and classical music programmes made thought his company, Elysian Films. His first feature film, Skin, was released worldwide in 2009/10 and has won 22 international awards.
A graduate of UCLA’s Film and Television School, Anthony shot Bach & Variations, a half-hour drama, in 1994. The film won a British Council Travel Award, and he was invited to give talks and attend festivals around the world.
Films:
Documentaries:
A graduate of UCLA’s Film and Television School, Anthony shot Bach & Variations, a half-hour drama, in 1994. The film won a British Council Travel Award, and he was invited to give talks and attend festivals around the world.
Films:
- Skin
- Prick
- Jean (2000 short film)
- Candy (1998 short film)
- Bach & Variations (1994 short film)
Documentaries:
- Embracing the Tiger
- While The Music Lasts
- Harmony In Hanoi
- Township Opera
- Total Eclipse
- Renee Fleming The Beautiful Voice
- Angela Gheorghiu My World
- Il Turco In Italia
- La Dansa
- Pavarotti's Greatest Hits
- Christophe Rousset: Scarlatti, Rameau, Marin-Marais
- Cecilia Bartoli: Chant d’Amour
- Angela Gheorghiu: ‘Ebben?’ from La Wally
- Jean-Yves Thibaudet: Debussy Préludes
- Joshua Bell: Tambourin chinois
- Olli Mustonen: Visions fugitives
- Richard Egarr: Brandenburg Concertos
The ApartheidAfter the Second World War, saw the insitutionalisation of racism in South Africa. The term apartheid describes a system of laws and policies of total racial segregation in South Africa that began in 1948, when the National Party came to power, and ended in 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected President in the first democratic elections. A large number of laws were passed to establish the apartheid structure of government. The three most important blocks of legislation were:
The apartheid was broken into two segments; petty and grand. Petty apartheid - Describes the era of the 1950s when laws similar to “Jim Crow” laws in the United States prohibited inter-racial sex and marriage and strictly segregated residential areas, schools, trains, buses, beaches, toilets, parks, stadiums, ambulances, hospitals, and cemeteries. Brutally enforced by police. The petty aparthied saw the use of Passes - Identification papers for African men and women with racial classification and other personal information, including employment status and history. The government used passes to restrict movement of black people. Passes criminalized millions of ordinary South Africans. Grand apartheid - Refers to the government policy of the 1960s and 1970s that sought to separate the country into white “South Africa” and African “homelands.” Depriving Africans of citizenship rights in “white” South Africa and relegating them to rural reserves. Was part of apartheid’s “separate development” theory and practice. THE STRANGE WORLD OF RACIAL CLASSIFICATION The apartheid regime had a number of pseudo scientific tests for classifying people as belonging to one of four main groups: White, Black, Indian, Coloured (mixed race). One of these tests involved putting a comb through hair - if it got stuck, that meant the person being tested was identified as African. Every year, people were reclassified racially. In 1984, for example:
Vic Wilkinson's case is significant. He was originally classified mixed race. Later he was defined as White. But the process of classification did not end there. He was also classified as Coloured, went back to being registered White, and conclusively became Coloured in 1984. Interestingly the word 'African' was never used by the authorities. The problem was it translated back in the Boer language into the word Afrikaner, which was the very name the white Dutch descendants called themselves. Africans were referred to by white officialdom as black or Bantu. |
Aparthied = Literally “apartness” in Afrikaans. A policy of racial segregation introduced by the National Party after its electoral victory in 1948. It created a highly stratified society in which whites dominated politically, economically, and socially at the expense of blacks.
Afrikaans = A language derived from Dutch that developed among the white, Khoisan, and slave populations of the Cape Colony. Afrikaans was recognized as an official language in 1925 and was further developed with the rise of Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid. Afrikaner = Dutch term for “native of Africa”; refers to whites who speak the Afrikaans language. Racial segregation = The classification and separation of people due to race. This separation pervades all aspects of life, including separate schools, housing, and public facilities. |
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Rise and fall of the AparthiedTaken from http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/discrim/race_b_at_print.asp
1650s - 1920s · 1651: Dutch settlers arrive in South Africa. · 1700s: Riding on horseback and covered wagons, Dutch farmers (called Boers) migrate across land inhabited by Bantu and Khoi peoples. Armed with shotguns, the Boers seize land used by the tribes for cattle and sheep grazing -- the basis of their economy. Without land, the tribes must work on Boer farms to support themselves. · 1867: Diamond mining begins in South Africa. Africans are given the most dangerous jobs, are paid far less than white workers, and are housed in fenced, patrolled barracks. Oppressive conditions and constant surveillance keep Africans from organizing for better wages and working conditions. · 1908: A constitutional convention is held to establish South African independence from Britain. The all-white government decides that non-whites can vote but cannot hold office. · 1910: The South Africa Act takes away all political rights of Africans in three of the country's four states. · 1912: The African National Congress is formed. This political party aims to organize Africans in the struggle for civil rights. The early leaders are pictured on the right. · 1913: The Native Lands Act gives 7.3% of the country's land to Africans, who make up 80% of the population. Africans are prohibited from owning land outside their region. Africans are allowed to be on white land only if they are working for whites. · 1920s: Blacks are fired from jobs which are given to whites. |
1930s - 1950s
· 1936: Representation of Voters Act: This law weakens the political rights for Africans in some regions and allows them to vote only for white representatives.
· By 1939, fewer than 30% of Africans are receiving any formal education, and whites are earning over five times as much as Africans.
· 1946: African mine workers are paid twelve times less than their white counterparts and are forced to do the most dangerous jobs. Over 75,000 Africans go on strike in support of higher wages. Police use violence to force the unarmed workers back to their jobs. Over 1000 workers are injured or killed.
· 1936: Representation of Voters Act: This law weakens the political rights for Africans in some regions and allows them to vote only for white representatives.
· By 1939, fewer than 30% of Africans are receiving any formal education, and whites are earning over five times as much as Africans.
· 1946: African mine workers are paid twelve times less than their white counterparts and are forced to do the most dangerous jobs. Over 75,000 Africans go on strike in support of higher wages. Police use violence to force the unarmed workers back to their jobs. Over 1000 workers are injured or killed.
·1950: The Population Registration Act. This law classifies people into three racial groups: white, colored (mixed race or Asian), and native
(African/black). Marriages between races are outlawed in order to maintain racial purity. · 1951: The Bantu Homelands Act. Through this law, the white government declares that the lands reserved for black Africans are independent nations. In this way, the government strips millions of blacks of their South African citizenship and forces them to become residents of their new "homelands." Blacks are now considered foreigners in white-controlled South Africa, and need passports to enter. Blacks only enter to serve whites in menial jobs. · 1951: The Group Areas Act sets aside specific communities for each of the races [white, colored (mixed race or Indian), and ative (African/black)]. The best areas and the majority of the land are reserved for whites. Non-whites are relocated into "reserves". Mixed-race families are forced to live separately. · 1952: Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act. This misleadingly-named law requires all Africans to carry identification booklets with their names, addresses, fingerprints, and other information. Africans are frequently stopped and harassed for their passes. · 1953: The Preservation of Separate Amenities Act establishes "separate but not necessarily equal" parks, beaches, post offices, and other public places for whites and non-whites. |
Between 1948-1973, over ten million Africans were arrested because their passes were "not in order." Burning pass books becomes a common form of protest.
1960s - 1990s
· 1960: A large group of blacks in the town of Sharpeville refused to carry their passes. The government declares a state of emergency and responds with fines, imprisonment, and whippings. In all, 69 people die and 187 people are wounded. The African political organizations, the African National Congress and the Pan-African Congress, are banned.
· 1962: The United Nations establishes the Special Committee Against Apartheid to support a political process of peaceful change. The Special Committee observes the International Day Against Racism to mark the anniversary of the people who died in the Sharpeville protest.
· 1963: Nelson Mandela, head of the African National Congress, is jailed.
· 1976: The Soweto uprising: People in Soweto riot and demonstrate against discrimination and instruction in Afrikaans, the language of whites descended from the Dutch. The police react with gunfire. 575 people are killed and thousands are injured and arrested. Steven Biko is beaten and left in jail to die from his injuries. Protesters against apartheid link arms in a show of resistance.
· 1980s: People and governments around the world launch an international campaign to boycott (not do business with) South Africa. Some countries ban the import
of South African products, and citizens of many countries pressure major companies to pull out of South Africa. These actions have a crippling effect on the South African economy and weaken the government.
· 1980s: Hundreds of thousands of Africans who are banned from white-controlled areas ignore the laws and pour into forbidden regions in search of work. Civil disobedience, demonstrations, and other acts of protest increase.
· late 1980s: Countries around the world increasingly pressure South Africa to end its system of apartheid. As a result, some of the segregationist laws are
repealed (reversed). For example, the laws separating whites and non-whites in public places are relaxed or repealed.
· 1991: South Africa President F.W. de Klerk repeals the rest of the apartheid laws and calls for the drafting of a new constitution.
· 1993: A multiracial, multiparty transitional government is approved.
· 1994: Elections are held. The United Nations sends 2,120 international observers to ensure the fairness of the elections. The African National Congress, representing South Africa's majority black population. Nelson Mandela, the African resistance leader who had been jailed for 27 years, is elected President.
1960s - 1990s
· 1960: A large group of blacks in the town of Sharpeville refused to carry their passes. The government declares a state of emergency and responds with fines, imprisonment, and whippings. In all, 69 people die and 187 people are wounded. The African political organizations, the African National Congress and the Pan-African Congress, are banned.
· 1962: The United Nations establishes the Special Committee Against Apartheid to support a political process of peaceful change. The Special Committee observes the International Day Against Racism to mark the anniversary of the people who died in the Sharpeville protest.
· 1963: Nelson Mandela, head of the African National Congress, is jailed.
· 1976: The Soweto uprising: People in Soweto riot and demonstrate against discrimination and instruction in Afrikaans, the language of whites descended from the Dutch. The police react with gunfire. 575 people are killed and thousands are injured and arrested. Steven Biko is beaten and left in jail to die from his injuries. Protesters against apartheid link arms in a show of resistance.
· 1980s: People and governments around the world launch an international campaign to boycott (not do business with) South Africa. Some countries ban the import
of South African products, and citizens of many countries pressure major companies to pull out of South Africa. These actions have a crippling effect on the South African economy and weaken the government.
· 1980s: Hundreds of thousands of Africans who are banned from white-controlled areas ignore the laws and pour into forbidden regions in search of work. Civil disobedience, demonstrations, and other acts of protest increase.
· late 1980s: Countries around the world increasingly pressure South Africa to end its system of apartheid. As a result, some of the segregationist laws are
repealed (reversed). For example, the laws separating whites and non-whites in public places are relaxed or repealed.
· 1991: South Africa President F.W. de Klerk repeals the rest of the apartheid laws and calls for the drafting of a new constitution.
· 1993: A multiracial, multiparty transitional government is approved.
· 1994: Elections are held. The United Nations sends 2,120 international observers to ensure the fairness of the elections. The African National Congress, representing South Africa's majority black population. Nelson Mandela, the African resistance leader who had been jailed for 27 years, is elected President.
"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find ways in which you yourself have altered."
Nelson Mandela, A Long Walk To Freedom, 1994.
The division between races isn't something from the past, or caused by the stupidity of one nation. There have been many examples of division and genocide due to race.
In 2008 South Africa rioted against the immigration of foreigners. Between 2000 and March 2008 at least 67 people died in what was identified as xenophobic attacks. In May 2008 a series of riots left 62 people dead; although 21 of those killed were South African citizens. The attacks were apparently motivated by xenophobia (fear/hatred of strangers).
In 1961 the German government raises a wall between East and West Germany that runs through the center Berlin (the capital of Germany). After WWII Germany was split in two by conlfic between the Soviets (who occupied the East side of Germany) and the Americans, French, and British (who occupied the West side of Germany). Both sides wanted the capital so they spilt Berlin in two.
During the 1970s , the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments.
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Currently, due to the conflict between nations, a wall has been erected segregating the Palestine and Israeli populations. It is refered to as a "Apratheid Wall" (named by the Palestines) or a "Separation Wall/Barrier" (offical name).
In 1994 the Rwanda Genocide an estimated 800,000 people were murdered (in the span of 100 days). Most of the dead were Tutsis - and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus. It would appear that the conflict arises from an ethnic class division (Tusis were considered more wealthy and social status) rather than language (they both spoke French and Bantu) or religion (they both primarily were Christians).
On September 8, 2000, the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) formally apologized for the agency's participation in the "ethnic cleansing" of Western tribes. From the forced relocation and assimilation of the "sauvage" to the white man's way of life to the forced sterilization of Native Americans, the
BIA set out to "destroy all things Indian." Through the exploration of the United States' Federal Indian policy, it is evident that this policy intended to "destroy, in whole or in part," the Native American population. It is noted that in terms of sheer numbers the Native American Genocide exceeds that of the Holocaust |