Race Eradicated

By Eden Gregory

Considering the United States and its troubling past regarding issues of race and ethnicity, it is no surprise that the idea of race is so prevalent in America. When we describe someone the first thing we say is their racial classification. When we meet a person and are not sure of what racial group they fall under we ask “What are you?” or “Are you mixed?” One of the first questions we answer on any official documentation is what race do we most identify with. From the moment we are born society assigns us a race and we carry that racial label for the entirety of our lives.  With the racialization of people being so significant and normalized in the US, I found the idea of eradicating racial labels incomprehensible until I went to South Africa.

Thanks to the generous donation from Grinnell’s Institute of Global Engagement, Chuck Lewis and Penny Bender Sebring ’64, myself and eleven other students in Deborah Micheal’s Comparative and International Education course were fortunate enough to go on a trip to South Africa in order to learn more about South African education and education reform.

On our first full day in Cape Town we attended IES Abroad’s orientation program. One of the goals of the program was to teach us more about the history and social culture of South Africa (I want to give a huge shout out to the staff at IES! You all were AMAZING!!!). A portion of the orientation focused on race in South Africa. South Africa is commonly referred to as the Rainbow Nation because it is so ethnically diverse. Natanya, a member of the IES staff who was giving the orientation, explained to us that many of the different racial groups in South Africa, white, Black, Colored, Malay, and others, were a direct result of laws enforced during the apartheid regime. In the days of Apartheid, which ended  less than thirty years ago, everyone living in South Africa was required to carry a pass on them that provided their race. Non-white South Africans could only live in communities with people of the same race classification and were beaten and jailed if they were caught without their pass.

Leaving the orientation, I thought I had an understanding of race in South Africa. I concluded that, like in the US, systems of oppression created racial labels, and despite the eradication of those systems, people would continue to use  those labels forever. However, as we began to explore South Africa, visiting museums and talking with people, I quickly learned that no one seemed intent on keeping racial labels for long.

There seemed to be an air of progression in South Africa. People spoke about different racial classifications as if they were temporary, part of a post-apartheid phase that would soon dissolve. Everywhere we went, museums, colleges, bike tours, schools, restaurants, people were talking about eradicating racial identities and creating an all inclusive national, South African identity.

In South Africa we visited the District 6 and Slave Lodge Museums in Cape Town as well as the Apartheid Museum and the Constitution Hill Museum in Johannesburg. Each one of our tour guides explained to us that one of the ways in which South Africa is creating a national identity is by acknowledging its past wrongs. In South Africa, the brutal apartheid history is not being tossed to the side to be forgotten. Different from the US, South Africa’s troubling history is being acknowledged and incorporated into its new national identity. South Africa’s Constitutional Court is the former prison that was known for incarcerating  political activists like Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe, men who fought against the apartheid regime. Our guide at the Constitution Hill Museum shared with us that the floor people walk on when they are about to go to trial is made from the bricks of that prison as a reminder of all of the people who were denied trials under the apartheid regime.

“We, the people of South Africa, recognize the injustices of our past; honor those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.” – excerpt from the Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa

Prior to coming to South Africa, I did not think you could eliminate racial labels. However, during this trip I discovered that racial labels can somewhat dissolve when a country chooses to acknowledge its past and works to create an identity that is inclusive.

I want to give a huge shout out to the EXTRAORDINARY group of women who went on the trip with me! You all were willing to ask the challenging questions, do a lot of self reflecting, and have very intense conversations. You all are AWSOME! I learned ten times more than I thought I would have and had the best time of my life because I was surrounded by the most intelligent, thoughtful, kindhearted women I have ever met! Much love to you all!