There is a South African Comedy called “The Coconuts” which outlines some of the aspects that govern the interaction between the black majority South Africans and the White minority. The White minority was in power and controlled most aspects of the economy with the blacks working mostly as servants during the apartheid rule. The name “the coconuts” is actually symbolic to imply that which is black on the outside but white on the inside. The comedy recounts the lives of two black families one that is well off and one that is poor, and a white family that is well off. The well of the black family has a daughter who is split between accepting her black culture and being assimilated into the white culture. This is because the black girl goes to a white school and mostly interacts with white people in her neighborhood including the white family of which they are much acquainted. In one scene the black girl witnesses a boy from a poor black family being discriminated against after he came to look for a job in the white neighborhood. The black girl does nothing and later scolds the white boy by telling him that his parents did not work hard enough to remove the shame from black people.
This scene in the comedy describes a sociological aspect of patterns of racial and ethnic relations. Racial and ethnic relations always have various aspects some of which are positive while others are negative. Cultural conflicts in a multi-cultural setting are always inevitable. Culture provides identity and it gives persons who share the same culture a sense of belonging. However, in situations where there exists cultural animosity due to inequitable distribution of resources and social injustices culture becomes a basis to discriminate against a particular group of people. (Andersen, 2006) In America, there have been attempts to analyze the factors governing the interaction between different races and the cause of racial conflicts, especially between the white majority and the white majority. Two major theories have been outlined in the American situation in Pluralism and assimilation and they attempt to characterize the different perceptions of the black community towards the white community. Pluralism is where a particular community feigns disregard for a particular majority culture but in the real sense, they have actually been assimilated. According to Andersen (2006), an example is some Italian communities in the US who converged themselves in small neighborhoods where they practiced Italian culture and even spoke Italian. However, in a real sense, they lived most of their lives according to the culture of the white majority. Assimilation on the other hand is where a minority community believes that for them to achieve and perhaps reach the level of the majority; they have to emulate the dominant majority.
The scene in the South African comedy brought out the assimilation aspect more clearly. It is very common for a minority group that is being discriminated against to blame themselves for their problems apart from blaming the dominant majority. The black girl coming from a well-off family is an example of a person who blamed the black community in South Africa for whatever social and economical injustices that faced them. She had nurtured the notion that the white community is so successful because they work hard. As a result, she strived to work hard in school and even had dreams of becoming a lawyer; a predominantly white profession during the early apartheid days in South Africa. Her parents were a testimony to her that when one emulates the white community they are sure of becoming successful. Her father was a clerk in a bank and her mother a teacher and they had managed to rent a house in a white neighborhood. All these aspects converged together to convince the girl that the whites controlled most aspects of the economy because they had worked hard. Although some blacks were highlighting their protests through strikes, she never supported such actions and thought that no social or economic injustices existed. The girl, therefore, preferred to have white friends and mostly interact with the whites. Furthermore, the girl even harbored hatred for blacks although she herself was black. The instance with the black boy is a situation that provides evidence for these facts. The girl could be described as being a “coconut” (black on the outside). Although she was black she shunned being black and wanted to do all she could to identify with the whites. Such a perception is always common within a multicultural society where there are conflicts. Some of the oppressed will blame themselves while others will blame it on injustices committed by the dominant group. These perceptions only function to fuel more conflict because they mask the real social problems within such societies. For instance, being assimilated by another cultural group and forgetting and even shunning one’s culture will prevent one from understanding the social dynamics in operation. The girl in the comedy might work hard to change many aspects about her to fit the expectations of the white but she can never change her identity. Furthermore, if there are social injustices inexistent the girl might turn a blind eye to them instead of seeking ways to address the injustices. On the other hand, one might blame their social status on the dominant community while overlooking their own contribution towards that status.
References
Andersen, M. (2006). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. New York: Thomson Wadsworth.