Legacies of Apartheid Flashcards
Social
Social Racism: Key Points
Subtle Racism: Today, racism is often less obvious and more subtle, taking the form of unspoken prejudice rather than open discrimination.
Invisible Harm: This kind of hidden racism can be more harmful than overt discrimination because it’s harder to see and fight. As Nelson Mandela said, “An invisible wound is more painful than the visible one.”
It appears when people treat others in a way that feels disrespectful or overly superior, even if they’re not being directly mean.
Difficult to Fight: Social racism is hard to address because it’s an attitude, not something that can easily be changed by laws. People often hide their prejudices behind political correctness.
Black Elite Experience: Even successful black individuals who have achieved high status still experience subtle forms of racism. Despite being part of the system, they may still face feelings of white superiority and exclusion at a cultural level.
Sexual
- Sexual
Until 1990 inter-racial sex was outlawed.
Presently, according to the authors, interracial dating hardly takes
place.
Students at university tend to stick to “their own” in the cafeteria
and residences.
Such informal segregation indicate shared codes of conduct and
expectations, as well as mutually understood levels of comfort in
socially different universes, rather than racist rejection of others.
Education
Segregation in Schools: In South Africa, the majority of students still attend all-black schools. There are about 12 million students across 30,000 schools, with many attending schools in poor townships.
Impact of the African Middle Class: As more middle-class African families move to former “white” schools, township schools are becoming even more underfunded and struggling.
Integration in Private and Former Model C Schools: Private (independent) schools and former “Model C” schools (once for white students) are now more racially mixed. They have about 15% African students, along with some coloured and Indian students.
Racial Incidents: The South African Human Rights Commission found that 62% of students reported experiencing some form of racism in school.
Desire for Better Education: Many African middle-class families want their children to get the same quality education that was once reserved for white students.
Economic
Legacy of Apartheid: Economic racism is still a major issue in South Africa, rooted in the country’s apartheid history. Practices like job reservation, unequal property rights, segregated housing, and unequal education continue to keep racial inequalities alive in the economy.
Management Positions: A 1997 survey found that 86.6% of management positions in companies were held by white people, with much smaller percentages held by black, coloured, and Indian people. Even in 2012, white people still held the majority of management roles (72.6%), while black people had only 12.3%.
BEE (Black Economic Empowerment): Despite policies meant to help black South Africans gain economic power, such as BEE, the economy is still largely controlled by the old white elite.
Empowerment Deals: Many so-called “empowerment” deals are actually funded by loans from white-owned banks, meaning that black entrepreneurs are still dependent on white-owned financial institutions.
Income Gaps: While the overall income gap between white and black South Africans has gotten smaller in recent years, within each racial group, there is increasing economic inequality.
