Simplistically, at face value, there's perhaps two ways of seeing this.
One is just kids being kids.
It makes me feel bad thinking back to being a child, and all the thoughtless, nasty things one said to people.
But maybe all children are like that.
I recall that kids could turn on others.
In German there's a saying: "Kinder koennen grausam sein" (Children can be cruel).
I remember one kid who stole everyone's toys, but nobody could touch the little sneak and tattle tale because he was the apple of his father's eye,
and could do no wrong.
Then one day we heard these whacks across the camping ground (we were camping on holiday at the time), and this kid got the hiding of his life.
Somehow the dad found all the stolen toys, and after the kid finished ballin' his eyes out, he had to go and give each toy back at every caravan and
tent.
That was really much worse than other kids could have done, but I'd say nowadays parents would probably indulge that thieving behavior, rather than
seeing a kid cry.
In the second reading race does seem to enter it.
Why are they mocking the child's hair?
Of course one doesn't know the specific context, but it almost seems like a reverse racist projection.
Some say the same about our ANC politicians, and that a very principled ANC leadership was eventually taken over by Mbeki and other exiles, who were
obsessed with white racism, and he became the very "African big man" of colonial stereotyping.
The work of colonialism and racism had damaged a generation of black people, until they became the very thing they despised.
While using fantastic English, they adopted all kinds of conspiracy theories.
It's the colonial mimic trying very hard not to be one.
The aim was simply to play the race card and attack, not just whites or black "sell-outs" but also coloreds and Indians when they disagreed.
OK that's being very hard on Mbeki, who did have a tough act to follow after the Mandela presidency, and not all the policies were failures.
It just appears at times that those who want to address racism the most end up repeating it.
That always made me think back to the black kids under US segregation who chose to play with white, rather than black dolls 40 years ago.
It's not right to attack a white child because their hair is different.
Yeah, it's an issue in adult society too, and these kids are not uniquely evil or misguided.
It just seems like so much policy has been a failure.
Is it better to view a white doll or child as superior, or as an object of resentment?
Aren't the two unrealistic ways of seeing "other" bodies connected?
What did people really expect from liberation - on both sides of the spectrum?
That's a very difficult question to answer.
How many generations did it take to segregate people and cause racism?
I suppose it cannot be undone in a few decades.
We can live together, but the issue will always exist.
Best to drop the shocked attitude when race is mentioned, or the pretense of post-racial normality.
Choices are to segregate or deal with it, and explain it to the kids, even when they copy behavior that is wrong.
edit on 26-8-2013 by
halfoldman because: (no reason given)