By Osama ka Sethenjwa Dumakude“I hate being black….The reasons I say this is because it’s sort of like I was born with all the negative black stereotypes. Because I am a young black man, people expect me to play basketball and football coz I am black. People expect me to be a great pansula or a gunman because I am black. People expect me to listen to rap ,kwaito and maskandi because I am black. And if you just think about that how it would feel for me and the people who feel the same way as me.”
What makes one blacker than the other? Is it the colour of the skin? Is the culture or lifestyle he/she opts to pursue? Are we black by virtue of our surnames or names or our deeds?Some of us associate “black” with primitiveness, death, morbidity, intimidation, coldness, and uncertainty. In interior design they associate white with cleanliness, optimism, safety, innocence and enlightenment. These entire connotations may differ from person to person. The reasons for this are various, but the most widely accepted explanations are that night is experienced by humans as negative and dangerous. In traditional class-based Western cultures "pale" skin indicated genteel domestic or intellectual indoor-work as opposed to rough outdoor labor in the fields.In our daily discourse we use words like blackmagic,black comedy,blacklist, blackmarket, black sheep, black propaganda etc to refer to undisirability. All these words have negative symbolism surounding a word “black”. A black cat often means bad luck and that you will probably not live. If you sink the black eight-ball in billiards before all others are out of play, you lose. During the Apartheid era( and even today) the school boards were black and they were using the white chalk to write on. What can you say about this?However black have positive symbolism. Ask any Kenyan Maasai person, they will tell you that the colour black is associated with rain clouds, becoming a symbol of life and prosperity. In fashion black is considerd reliably stylish. This seems to be for reasons os contrast with the white skin. Black can also be seen as the colour of prestige: for example , limousines are usually in black and black tuxedos are worn at black tie functions.Black can be seen as a colour of seriousness and authourity. Many priests traditionally wear black. Lawyers and judges often wear black robes, as are university graduates.
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