An upcoming Heritage Day event at The King’s School West Rand has left a number of parents disappointment with this year’s theme, which some understood as racial stereotyping and discriminatory.
The aggrieved parents forwarded a poster to the Northsider, promoting the event to be held on Friday, 20 September.
The poster basically depicted what could be worn by various learners to represent their ethnicity. But what got a number of parents upset were how white and coloured people were described, and the dress code that was suggested for them.
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The poster described white people as ‘Whities’ and coloureds as ‘Kleurlinge’, terms the parents found offensive.
“The wrongs of this start in the language the school deems fit by [labelling] learners as ‘Whities’ and ‘Kleurlinge’. The use of such language is totally unacceptable. It’s the same as calling someone a ‘darkie’,” a parent said.
“How am I supposed to raise a child in a racially free society when the school puts racial groups up against cultural groups?” she asked.
Another upsetting aspect about the poster, according to the parent, was that ‘the whities’ category was advised to dress ‘fancy’ as 19th Century Europeans, while coloureds were advised to wear takkies and bling (jewellery).
“How can a race group like ‘coloured’ people be told to dress in a gangster-like fashion, wearing bling and takkies?” she asked.
“This stereotype on its own is a huge issue and offensive, especially when compared to the other race group, the ‘Europeans’, and their fancy hats and lace,” she complained.
Another parent reckoned the school required some sort of educational culture and transformation. “They need serious integration in their mindset. This is really not okay. Do they not know how racially tense our country is? This behaviour is offensive,” she complained.
The school was approached for comment on the matter. The principal, Ken Langley alluded that the occasion was in no way intended to offend any race.
“Knowing that our society is full of pain because of our past history, we took care to be sensitive to honour the different heritages and cultural traditions. For this reason we asked our African teachers to give suggestions for accessories celebrating our African cultures,” he explained.
He said they also asked for suggestions from their coloured teachers about accessories to celebrate their culture, alluding to where the coloured theme stemmed from.
“Our accessories are in no way intended to depict the full scope of any group’s cultural heritage – we could never reduce it to such. Our intention was simply to create awareness of something in our different backgrounds and the richness thereof in a fun way,” Langley clarified.
“We are aware that certain parents took offence at some of the images and words on the materials, and I have responded to them, apologising for causing unintentional offence and appealing to them that we continue engaging with one another with much grace and kindness, as we forge a new future for our country that is based on the Kingdom of God,” he concluded.
