What started as a global Instagram trend quickly ascended into disturbing accounts of racism, discrimination, humiliation and exclusion by learners from the schools, writes Nuraan Davids.TheCapeArgus YouthDay
On Tuesday, June 2, learner after learner took to social media to share stories of absolute disgrace about their experiences at a significant number of high schools in Cape Town’s southern suburbs. with a black square” - with schools posting supportive messages, quickly ascended into disturbing accounts of racism, discrimination, humiliation and exclusion by learners from the schools.
Yes, I am profoundly aware of the reality in South Africa that, despite the ideological demise of apartheid, racism, and its embedded degradation of others, has not left South Africa any more than it has left the world’s so-called greatest democracy, the US. Second, surely, just one “malcontent” like the kind on social media should be enough for self-reflection, rather than this blatant display of disregard?
Whether schools want to admit it or not, these posts, filled with pain and anger, are as much a part of their legacy, as their purported greatness. What are you teaching your children in your homes? What example are you presenting? Do you speak out when you know about the kinds of atrocities being committed at your child’s school, and not only when it involves your own child?Schools can and should be amazing places where young people from diverse backgrounds can come and be together. They should be places where everyone feels a sense of belonging.
Seemingly, our young people are becoming conscious about their education; they recognise the harm that has been inflicted upon them; that somewhere along the line they have been deprived of being seen as fully human.
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