Ebony and ivory

We were discussing the latest fatal shark attack at Jeffrey's Bay recently. One of the waiters, a Zimbabwean (a trained male nurse who is unable to work as such in this country), asked me what kind of person the victim was. Correctly assuming he meant 'colour', I told him it was a white man and he asked if sharks ate black people. It was an interesting question, as it shows how people perceive the world differently. His concern was that if he went swimming in the sea, would a shark want to eat him. I gave it a little thought, then told him that I thought it highly unlikely that a shark would care about the colour of a victim's skin and the low incidence of shark attacks reported for black people was probably related to culture, where the proportion of white people in the water would far outweigh the number of black people, simply due to their propensity for swimming rather than staying in the shallows. He was quite happy with that explanation, particularly when I informed him that in the Eastern Cape, where the proportion of black people in the water is greater, three black people have succumbed to shark attacks and he agreed that the sharks didn't have a preference..

He then asked me if white people could be albinos and I assured him that it was something that could occur in any race, as it was a lack of any pigmentation whatsoever, and that being an albino did not make you white. He said that was what he thought but the white people he had asked had told him no. He obviously feels a need to discuss the black/white issue with someone who understands what he is getting at. I hope I fulfilled his expectations and that we will have many more discussions.

You will have noticed an irritating number of references to black and white, when in fact we are neither. We are various shades of pigmentation, and the basis of the need for such discrimination should be purely for identification. Unfortunately both sides have become accustomed to lumping each extreme into a colour code, with accompanying stereotyping. We have learned to judge people according to their skin colour and while being a firm believer in not being judgmental, it can be difficult to persuade others to take a different view of their fellow man.

My viewpoint is that, if you must judge, rather base it on behaviour than skin colour, as the only real divisions between mankind relate to culture. It would be a great place to start in breaking down the walls we have built between ourselves and perhaps encourage a little more tolerance once we gain a greater knowledge of other people's circumstances.

Here endeth the lesson.