Comments on: Post-Apartheid: A White Woman and a Black Woman Walk Down the Street…It is Unremarkable. http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/ Creating connections through the arts and across cultures Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:30:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lami Charity Adama http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/comment-page-1/#comment-3499 Lami Charity Adama Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:30:56 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/#comment-3499 Janet, How could she have asked such a ridiculous question about apathied? In her own country? Are you sure she was not pretending? Or is it that there was another name for that in South Africa? Something was wrong somewhere i think. Anyway, it is a huge relief that liberation came at last! Liberation after many years of untold physical, emotional. social, and psychological torture. Janet,

How could she have asked such a ridiculous question about apathied? In her own country? Are you sure she was not pretending? Or is it that there was another name for that in South Africa? Something was wrong somewhere i think. Anyway, it is a huge relief that liberation came at last! Liberation after many years of untold physical, emotional. social, and psychological torture.

]]> By: Lami Charity Adama http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/comment-page-1/#comment-3498 Lami Charity Adama Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:25:44 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/#comment-3498 Janet, How could she have asked such a ridiculous about apathied? In her own country? Are you sure she was not pretending? Or is it that there was another name for that in South Africa? Something was wrong somewhere i think. Anyway, it is a relief that liberation came at last! Liberation after untold physical, emotional, social, and psychological torture. Lami Janet,

How could she have asked such a ridiculous about apathied? In her own country? Are you sure she was not pretending? Or is it that there was another name for that in South Africa? Something was wrong somewhere i think. Anyway, it is a relief that liberation came at last! Liberation after untold physical, emotional, social, and psychological torture.

Lami

]]> By: Janet Riehl http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/comment-page-1/#comment-3457 Janet Riehl Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:17:51 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/#comment-3457 Alan, Yes, I agree with you, as well. My comments and our private joke was of course, aimed at people who use this phrase in the same way the phrase, "Oh, but some of my best friends are..." You went through a deep and lasting transformation in your life which left you with such a strong sense of personal comfort with yourself and those you meet--of whatever background or color--that those around you feel it as palpable. You are one of the strongest human beings, humanists, mensches, I know. Being white in a mainly black world in my 5 yeas in Africa changed my sense of self and color, especially my own color. My students in Ghana showed me how to look at skin undertones in order to more clearly describe someone as blue-black or red-black or yellow-brown. While I myself was pink and tan with purple veins. I agree with you especially when you say "not a category used in my reaction to people." It's the word react that is key. And in that sense, I agree it is an "empty category" but is, in fact, often linked with "character, culture, and possibility." It's a big subject for sure. Janet Alan,
Yes, I agree with you, as well. My comments and our private joke was of course, aimed at people who use this phrase in the same way the phrase, "Oh, but some of my best friends are..."

You went through a deep and lasting transformation in your life which left you with such a strong sense of personal comfort with yourself and those you meet--of whatever background or color--that those around you feel it as palpable.

You are one of the strongest human beings, humanists, mensches, I know.

Being white in a mainly black world in my 5 yeas in Africa changed my sense of self and color, especially my own color.

My students in Ghana showed me how to look at skin undertones in order to more clearly describe someone as blue-black or red-black or yellow-brown. While I myself was pink and tan with purple veins.

I agree with you especially when you say "not a category used in my reaction to people." It's the word react that is key. And in that sense, I agree it is an "empty category" but is, in fact, often linked with "character, culture, and possibility." It's a big subject for sure.

Janet

]]> By: Alan http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/comment-page-1/#comment-3454 Alan Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:48:49 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/#comment-3454 On "I don't see color," I agree and also I disagree. There was a time in my life, in the 1970s, when I lived almost entirely "inside" Ghana, with very little contact with Westerner, and reached the point when the only time I might "see color" would be if I happened to look in a mirror (an image that some black Americans of the time might have said wasn't color at all, but "absence of color"...). Subsequently... in sojourns back in America, in Nigeria, in Turkey, in Afghanistan, in China... I reached a point where I realized that I didn't "see color". It was simply not a category used in my reaction to people. And while I recognize that it remains a category much used by many people, in the way they look at other people, and is held in place by much weight of history, it is in fact an empty category. It has nothing to do with character, or culture, or possibility, at least not until people fill it with their own prejudices or presumptions which they then seek to impose on others. That said, in America still, and in South Africa still, there is no question that people continue to "see color," and all too often to be blinded by it. On "I don't see color," I agree and also I disagree. There was a time in my life, in the 1970s, when I lived almost entirely "inside" Ghana, with very little contact with Westerner, and reached the point when the only time I might "see color" would be if I happened to look in a mirror (an image that some black Americans of the time might have said wasn't color at all, but "absence of color"...). Subsequently... in sojourns back in America, in Nigeria, in Turkey, in Afghanistan, in China... I reached a point where I realized that I didn't "see color". It was simply not a category used in my reaction to people. And while I recognize that it remains a category much used by many people, in the way they look at other people, and is held in place by much weight of history, it is in fact an empty category. It has nothing to do with character, or culture, or possibility, at least not until people fill it with their own prejudices or presumptions which they then seek to impose on others.
That said, in America still, and in South Africa still, there is no question that people continue to "see color," and all too often to be blinded by it.

]]> By: Susan http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/comment-page-1/#comment-3453 Susan Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:42:15 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/09/03/post-apartheid-a-white-woman-and-a-black-woman-walk-down-the-streetit-is-unremarkable/#comment-3453 Janet, I must admit, I'm amazed anyone would not know about aparthied now, much less then when it was all over the news. But the wonderful thing is that now, you and your friend can walk together wherever and whenever you want. And you could even take a bus, too. Yeah!! Glad to see you're feeling better and you're back to blogging. Janet,
I must admit, I'm amazed anyone would not know about aparthied now, much less then when it was all over the news. But the wonderful thing is that now, you and your friend can walk together wherever and whenever you want. And you could even take a bus, too. Yeah!!
Glad to see you're feeling better and you're back to blogging.

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