IT’S CLEAR TO ME THAT THE WRITER HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT. SOUTH AFRICANS HAVE THE SAME “ONE DROP” MYTHS IN THEIR OWN WAY. IT’S INTERESTING HOW THIS ACCUSATION OF “BETRAYING” A FAMILY AND MAKING MOTHERS CRY IS ONLY MADE WHEN A MULTIRACIAL PERSON IS “RISING” FROM A NON-WHITE CASE TO A WHITE IDENTITY. NO SUCH HATRED OR RESENTMENT IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE “PURE” WHITE WHO REJECTS MIXED RELATIVES. IT’S TREATED AS ALMOST “NATURAL,” LIKE BAD WEATHER. THE HYSTERIA AGAINST “PASSING” IS JUST ANOTHER WAY TO PROMOTE THE MYTH OF WHITE RACIAL PURITY.
In the TV series the actors, like many whites, coloureds, blacks and Indians who were once victims of race classification, battle to come to terms with betraying their families and themselves, said Isidingo script writer, Collin Oliphant, who came up with the idea when he was reminded of a similar situation in his own family.
“I remember my late grandmother once commented that someone looked rather dark to be coloured,” Oliphant said.
Although not prepared to divulge details from his family, Oliphant recalled how the suicide of a white friend sparked rumours that he finally discovered that he had married a person of colour.
my father’s family were ‘play whites’ as they called it.My father frequently caught the white trains if he was running late for something during the apartheid era.He was pulled aside by police for being affectionate with my coloured looking mum,little did they know. When I first went to south africa and we were looking for somewhere to stay they said my father could come into the hotel but we the remaining family couldnt, so we all slept in the car.The fact that my father is a coloured with a xhosa mixed grandmother and other asian/african great grandparents points to the stupidity of the afrikaner’s colour catergories.
The ‘whites’ of south africa are themselves coloureds.Ive seen whites that look more mixed race then anyone in my family,to me they are the greatest “play whites” of all time. When My aunt married an afrikaner she disappeared and I havent seen her for years and years no doubt blending into that little white lie.