Kaffir Boy
...Mathabane says, “My father became speechless. He parted his parched lips and tried to say something, but no sound came. He lowered his bony head and buried it in the palms of his gnarled hands; and at that moment he seemed to age a thousand years, a pitiful sight” (21). These actions, legal under the apartheid cause black Africans to feel as though they are below all other races. Feelings such as these completely break down their spirits. They cause most spiritual deaths in communities such as Alexandria. Apartheid does not only limit the black’s spirits but their education as well. The apartheid laws negatively affect the possibility of blacks’ educational advancement. These laws hinder black children educationally by limiting acceptance into schools The laws limit the ability to attend the schools by providing little to no financial aid to the thousands of poverty stricken children, many of whom do not even know what a school is. The author says, “They like myself had grown up in an environment where the value of an education was never emphasized, where the first thing a child learned was not how to read and write and spell, but how to fight and steal and rebel; where the money to send children to school was grossly lacking, for survival was first priority” (123). Even the few lucky black children who are able to enter school are negatively affected by apartheid feelings of white supremacy, which appear woven throughout the entire educational system. Blacks’ difficulty in obtaining an education, greatly affects their job options. The laws of apartheid place enormous restrictions on opportunities of employment for blacks in South Africa. The apartheid feelings of white supremacy keep blacks from holding positions in mixed corporations regardless of qualifications. The only employment options readily available to South African blacks include washerwomen, gardeners, housekeepers, nannies, and other submissive duties. Mathabane remembers that, “The backbreaking job required her to work six day...