Nothings Changed

Moving on the man comes across a lavishing restaurant. Through his careful choice of language, Tatamkhulu Afrika has made it obvious that the restaurant is for white people only. For example the guards at the gatepost, the fact that the restaurant is squats (doesn’t belong there) and the way it has been described as “new, up-market, haute cuisine.” Even though it isn’t written anywhere the man still knows that this place is for whites only. He would be allowed to go in, but even if he did he knows he or any other black person wouldn’t be able to afford to eat there. This fact alone is like a grenade filled with revenge exploding silently in the man’s heart.

During apartheid the whites had their own places to dine, shop, relax etc. even though apartheid ended the white people still held their heads high and dissociated themselves from the black people. Once again, nothings changed.

During the days of apartheid those unclassified as white were treated like dirt. They were killed and tortured, sometimes just for fun. They were given inauspicious jobs and paid hardly enough to feed themselves. When year’s later apartheid ended the black people of South Africa were alleged once again to live a peaceful life able to enjoy luxuries as they went by. Unfortunately nothing changed, there was still a major segregation amongst the black and white for instance, white people would eat at a “haute cuisine” while black people would eat at a “working mans café.” There was also a lot of hatred amongst the black and white, and with hatred also came revenge “hands burn for a stone, a bomb to shiver down the glass.”

The government and laws may have changed but the attitude and mentality of the people didn’t. Things are the same as when apartheid took place and that is what’s so ironic in the title nothings changed.