When Tony first
came in I thought, “Here we go another history lesson on what we have just
learned.” From the moment he brought in a guitar I knew things would get
interesting. Within the first ten minutes we were all singing an Alicia Keys
song while he was playing. I’ll admit that was a great way to catch our
attention. Instead of giving us a typical history lesson, he included a lot of
his life experience during apartheid.
A few of his
stories caught my attention. The first was when he told us about the tour
guide. The tour guide didn’t let his group in because there were three black
people. From that point, Tony never stepped foot in that museum. I keep this
story in mind because it shows that if you strongly believe something is wrong,
you shouldn’t support it. I think he took the right action.
The second life
story that Tony told us was about his marriage. It was surprising that he
married his wife (classified as "coloured") because of the Immorality Act (which
stated you could only be with someone of the same classification). He, along
with everyone else, was forced to marry within limitations. Although divorces
aren’t supposed to be good, I was pleased to hear that he ended his marriage
because according to him he had not married for the right reason.
My mouth dropped
when we were discussing how we are conditioned to think certain ways. For
example, he said if there were three women (one classified black, one classified coloured, and one classified white) all
pretty good looking, he would, without hesitation, choose the white women. When
we asked why, the first thing that came to my mind was white privilege. As I
predicted, he said because he had been taught to value white as a sign of success.
His story was an
overall interesting input on what mental struggles went on amongst the people
during apartheid. Not only on past struggles but also on present struggles like
trying to uncondition the way one had been conditioned. I feel like I took in
much more when visitors came and spoke to us on a personal note. As I feel the
emotion from their words, it takes me to that time with them.
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