Food for Thought

Recently, I was having lunch with my Xhosa “daughter”, Nosibabalo, at one of our local restaurants.  Nosi and I always have the most interesting conversations, learning from each other about our different countries, cultures, and life experiences — oh so very different.  I learn a lot from listening to Nosi’s stories and her perspective on the world she knows so well.  During this particular lunch she educated me once again.  

Nosi spoke to me about her new part-time job at a local restaurant, ironically called “Dixie’s” – southern food `a la the cape peninsula.  I assumed Nosi worked as a server.

“You won’t see any darkies in the front of the restaurant!” she said.

I was sure I hadn’t heard correctly.  “Did you just say ‘darkies’?”

“Yes.  What’s wrong with that? ”

“If you said that in the U.S., you’d be called out for being racist.  It’s the same for calling someone ‘colored’, even though here in South Africa, that’s an accepted and specific segment of the population.”

Nosi was stunned.  “How can there be no colored people?!  If the parents are one black and one white, what is the child?”

“In the U.S., if your parents are of mixed race, you are black; for example, President Obama.  His mother was white, but he was considered to be black.”

“No!  Even if this is the case, if the father is white and the mother is black, the child must be white, because it is the father’s line that counts.”

“That’s a good point, but in the U.S., that’s not how it’s interpreted.  You’re black or white, and if any part of you is black, you’re black.”

This made no sense to Nosi.  Shaking her head, she went back to the restaurant topic.

“The manager says that the patrons are racist and they don’t want to see black people serving their food.  So only whites and coloreds are allowed to be in the front.  But those patrons are cr-r-r-r-azy (she rolls her “r’s” in her Xhosa accent), because I am in the back with Zimbabweans and other Xhosa and we are preparing their food with our own dark hands!”

It seems the U.S. and South Africa have some things in common.  For one, there’s still a percentage of people who perceive that the color of someone’s skin should define their role in society.  I agree with Nosi.  Those people are crazy.  Roll the “r’s” please.

Women’s March in Cape Town