Black & White

-15-

C H A P T E R  F I F T E E N

I sighed as I closed my Afrikaans book and leaned back onto my chair with my eyes closed.

"That was a very long period." Khumo breathed over my shoulder.

"I'm just glad it's over." I said and glanced towards Mbuyisa, only to find him asleep with his head on his desk.

"How long till we go home?" Khumo asked, rubbing his temples.

"Khumo, it's still 10:00am. We haven't even had break as yet." I laughed at his shocked face.

"At least we have English now." A sleepy Mbuyisa mumbled.

"I thought you were sleeping." I told him.

"Khumo's annoying voice woke me up." Mbuyisa said yawning.

"Hey!" Khumo playfully slapped Mbuyisa on his shoulder, causing him to groan in annoyance.

English was one of my favourite subjects. Mrs Dlamini, our English teacher made the subject enjoyable. Listening to her teach and explain the work like there was nothing else she would rather do in the world, made me fall in love with the subject. We were forced to learn all of our subjects in English. Although this annoyed a lot of students, I didn't mind.

"Good morning class." Mrs Dlamini greeted us as she entered the classroom. A big smile was plastered on her light skin face. Mrs Dlamini loved her work. She treated us like we all came out of her womb.

We stood up and greeted her back, "Good morning Mrs Dlamini."

"You may sit down."

We all sat down. Everyone was wide awake now, including Mbuyisa who was yawning a couple of minutes ago.

"I have exciting news." Mrs Dlamini announced. Her announcement made everyone sit up.

She looked at us with eyes beaming with happiness and excitement, "Our school has been invited to take part in a debate against other schools in Parktown!"

Our smiles slowly turned into frowns.

Silence.

It was definitely not the kind of reaction Mrs Dlamini was expecting.

Her smile immediately fell, "Why do you guys look so sad?"

"Ma'am, we can't compete against those schools in Parktown." One of the learners spoke up. We all nodded our heads in agreement.

Mrs Dlamini folded her arms across her chest, "Why not?"

"Those kids are smarter than us. And they speak English fluently, unlike us." Another learner spoke.

Mrs Dlamini raised her eyebrow, "Are you not speaking English right now?"

"It's different ma'am. We only speak English here at school. At home we speak our mother tongues, whereas they speak English everyday."

Once again, we all nodded our heads in agreement.

"Who said they are smarter than you?" Mrs Dlamini asked us.

Silence.

"White people are not smarter than black people." She began. She walked over to the black wall we called a board and began writing with white chalk.

White Supremacy. Those were the two words written on the board.

"White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to other races." She said, turning to us.

"I thought this was an English lesson." Mbuyisa whispered to me. I shrugged my shoulders at him.

"Do you guys believe in white supremacy?" Mrs Dlamini asked, but her question was followed by silence.

"White people want us to think and believe that they are better than us. Why? Because they fear us. They know that we are far more intelligent than them. When you guys say that white people are smarter and better than you, you are upholding white supremacy without even realizing it."

"Who invented the first clock?" Mrs Dlamini asked.

This time, her question was not followed by silence. "A black man." I answered.

"Who was the first person to create a blood bank?" She asked again.

"A black man." Mbuyisa and I answered.

"Who created the first video home security system?"

"A black woman!" Our voices grew louder, our smiles grew wider.

"Who is the first self made millionaire?"

"A black woman!" The whole class shouted. The class erupted into fits of excitement. According to our history books here at school, only white people were inventors. I'm not sure what it is, but Mrs Dlamini awakened something in us. Something that has been dead and buried for a very long time.

When the class had finally calmed down, Mrs Dlamini asked us, "Do you still think they are smarter than us?"

"They fear us." I said.

~*~