A race in its own class

By NICOLE HODNETT

According to the Bill of rights we all have the right to equal protection. Art for Humanity expresses topics through art and poetry affecting our society today.

When people use the word “race “they attain a biological meaning to it.Others use “race “as a socially constructed concept. Race has a social meaning that has been legally constructed.

According to Anti-Defamation league it is the belief that the word “racism “happens when a particular race is superior or inferior to another. A person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.

In the 1950s, the group areas act was passed by the government of South Africa which allowed for the designation of municipal grounds for specific race groups. According to Topix, several laws were passed after that making the country racially segregated on a physical basis.

Biljana Jankovic (Artist) and Cedomir Sagric (Poet) – Serbia & Montenegro of the Dialogue among civilizations portfolio is a perfect representation of the apartheid struggles South Africa went through. It is a representation of what the stigma of racism once was and still is today. Focused on the mere surfaces that make boundaries between space areas which is also a perfect representation of the Group areas act.

According to Race and Class, racism arose from slavery which was integral to the growth of capitalism through imperialism to justify the inhumanities of slavery to an age that once was.

According to Apartheid laws, Pass laws were a huge part of the development of South Africa. They aimed to put regulations and more control on where all Africans would go. Children that had played together all of their lives had to go their separate ways due to their skin color.

Biljana Jankovic (Artist) and Cedomir Sagric (Poet) representing Serbia and Montenegro in the Art For Humanity “Dialogue Among Civilizations” Print Portfolio 2010.

People of all races had to carry identity documents that had to be produced within 7 days of being demanded by an officer. Parliament claimed that more arrests were being made in 1982 due to passbook violations.

Even after a decade South Africa is still affected by the stigma of racism. We still refer to each other as black, white, Indian or colored

Nowadays racism is existent amongst the different genres of class in our society.

Director of Art for Humanity,Jan Jordaan feels racism to be very small pockets of extremism.

“It all boils down to discrimination”, he said.

Will we ever see each other as a true rainbow nation? It all starts with one mindset that can change the world and that mindset was Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.