Stereotyping is just an extension of the power of fears…well we stereotype when we want to ease our fears. I guess it’s sometimes alright because it brings around conformity of a good kind, but often breeds conformity of the bad kind.
In the apartheid government we were stereotyped by classing us according to race. If you had a lighter colour skin you were more important than if you had a darker colour skin. As absurd as it sounds, propaganda played on people’s fears that they were/ would become lesser beings if they associated vertically down the food chain and so the story goes on.
In the freed society we live in our fears and most definitely mine still linger on this subject of “my worth”. Society has historically been classified as rich and poor; this is geographically true as well as embedded in our thinking. We have developed a society that yearns money and in doing so have idolised the previously disadvantaged that have managed to make money quickly. The “black diamond’s” seems to be what all working class “black” people aim to become. The “Indian” people have been revered for their ability to make wealth. When people see young Indian kids in smart cars, they simply assume that their families are rich. White people are known as the previously advantaged and South Africans expect them to already have everything. The classifications and assumptions and expectations developed through the years have made us weary of being different lest someone questions us. We think as we have been taught to, we act as we have been taught to, we interact as we are taught to and if we do anything that’s not “as expected” we bashfully turn defensive.
There’s a place in South Africa called Laudium. For me, and I guess many others, it represents the most flippant contrast between the haves and the have-nots. Poor people living in squalid conditions juxtaposed by the most magnificent homes and the largest concentration of a certain brand of luxury vehicles in the world.
I have only ever visited this place twice; both times out of necessity but with a sense of curiosity aswell. I had heard of Laudium residents and their mansions.
The residents of Laudium are mostly “Indian” having been moved there under the group areas act ages ago. I had previously accepted that the expectations that non-indian people had of me being rich and owning many vehicles and buying my way through school stemmed from nothing other than the business mindedness that “Indian” people are known for. Indians were known for their enterprising nature to sustain themselves. In the past, bribes were made to make lives easier (not condoned). Everything had some explanation. Then… I encountered Laudium in the day time! I saw the palaces, the pomp and pride called Laudium (ironically pronounced Lord –ium) crusted by the Itireleng informal settlement.
I don’t understand; I couldn’t interpret, I still can’t begin to imagine how this happened. My eye’s dilated, my jaw dropped and I took a deep breath. Whatever happened to loving thy neighbour? Wait a second, am I like this? My mind started racing through all the remarks I had ever heard. Rationality failed me…the questions wouldn’t stop
- · Do I live in a fort while my neighbour huddles under a tree unable to keep a roof over his head?
- Do I live expensively at the cost of others?
- Do I drive flashy cars and flash my money to escape unsavoury situations?
Laudium represents even more of a parody to me. I have developed a fear of being classified “Indian” but in the process I am stereotyping the “Indian” whose values I disprove of. My visit to the little town was a colossal shock to my system. I won’t go there again, if not just because visually it imparts such dementia but also because my fear of interacting with Laudiumers may ignite a deep seated ugliness in me.
What would you do?
