Racism is a problem in every country, especially when a new race has just invaded a country. The Power of One has two different examples of racism in it.
The first occasion racism is portrayed is right near the start of the book, when Peekay is at the boarding school. At the boarding school, Peekay is one of the few English 'Rooinek' boys. Because he is English, he is called before the 'judge and jury', made up of older boys at the school. The judge forces Peekay, who they call 'Pisskop', to do dreadful things. Among other things, Peekay is urinated on and is forced to eat human poo. This racism surprised me. Usually, it is the British who go in there and be racist against the natives. Here it is the opposite. The African white people were racist against the English who had invaded their country.
The second scene which capitalised on racism is in prison. Peekay goes to see Doc after he is sentenced to prison for the duration of the war. In the warder's lodge, Peekay witnesses one of the black people being hit by one of the warder's over something he didn't even do. Peekay's thoughts about this aren't mentioned, but the reader assumes he doesn't care. The black people in prison were constantly frightened by the warders who would often hit them. The term used when referring to the black people was 'Kaffir', which is a derogatory term. Later on in the book, Peekay tries to create a school to educate black adults. The local 'white' police become involved, and the school is dismantled at once, on the basis of the black people seeking to over throw the government!!
We should all take note from the racial discriminations from the past and work on them to unite the world into one race - the race God created, the human race.
No comments:
Post a Comment