This post was mentioned on Twitter by mgthoughtleader: In search of a South African identity http://tinyurl.com/ybp3aeg...

….I believe it would serve better to focus discussion on de-racialising our national state- endorsed race-based frameworks, rather than to attempt to socially engineer cultural diversity out of our lives and vocabulary….
…On the one side there was the elevation of race and ethnicity as the cornerstone of identity and as a determinant of human relations, social constructs and destiny. On the other side is the notion that sub-cultures and identities are undesirable and backward, and should be suppressed in favour of us being simply South Africans.
Thankfully in our constitution we rejected both of the kragdadig ideological approaches which lead to social-engineering, in favour of a South African identity that recognises our goal of national unity that nurtures and celebrates diversity. READ MORE @ http://www.cape-slavery-heritage.iblog.co.za

Racial categorizations will only disappear once our society reaches a point of stabilization where there is natural intermixing among races – after our apartheid indoctrination wears off and we accept each other as human beings from the same species and tolerant to diversity in all its forms.

That is what we need loss of denial and control and rather to celebrate what resonates with with our heritage whatever we decided that heritage to be. We often fight off exterior stereotypying (by others) yet we are the first to put ourselves in a box. Let the South African identity evolve, it is still too early to talk about nationalism in the South African context. We can start this debate once there is good governance and a better, healthy and stable welfare system. It’s only a shortcut if try to hide behind a South African identity that is still embryonic and now is the time that we will see who is pro-life on the matter.

So you see I probably had less than you. But still I don’t want you to compensate me now.

It seems to me that there is a lot more at stake for blacks, concerns about AA, BEE, land reforms, etc., while for us whities it is more of a emotional thing of being politically and socially marginalized and feeling like a stranger in your own country and continent. I have sympathy for both arguments.

When I was in Kenya I found it rewarding to explain to my friends there that my parents and grandparents, up to how many generations back I don’t even know, were all born in South Africa. Yet walking around in the streets of Kenya with not another white face in sight and being called Mzungu (white man) by the children, I was very aware of and comfortable with my white-Africanness.

I don’t mind complex identities. When I visited Europe, something resonated with my own identity, as I suppose Africa does with African-Americans. Complex identities keep us historically aware.

I disagree with all the whities who want to keep the past in the past. And I disagree with the blacks who reject a common South African identity. If I must be a European-South-African, I am okay with it, as long as I am recognized as being part of this country – part of the problem and part of the solution.

To move away from any race issues its best we simplify the classification of people to : all people born in SA are South Africans-whether born during,before or after APARTHEID.The way people talk,walk,look.interact,eat etc just makes them interesting.

Now if only those WHITE people in Balito can respect all S Africans as people,not walk around as if being white is being above everybody else.