It has been a while since I have read a book that triggered all sorts of emotions in me. Ismail Lagardien’s debut book truly made me shed a tear for all the pains he went through in his life.
In Too White to be Coloured, Too Coloured to be Black- On the search for home and meaning, academic and veteran journalist, Ismail narrates his painful early life that was dominated by pain at home, school and the broader society. The pain was as a result of his too “white skin and green eyes” which “confused” society that continue to be obsessed with racial categorization.
Inside the pages of this book, you will appreciate Ismail’s braveness to cut ties with those and that which suffocated his life and his ability to speak his truth at whatever cost.
I found myself asking not only how Ismail managed to survive that painful early life, but how painful was the writing process to relive all the pain that he went through.
In Too White to be Coloured, Too Coloured to be Black, Ismail also makes commentary on social and political themes such as non-racialism, Colouredness, racism, and race-ethnicity that have shaped his life and still dominates contemporary South Africa.
Now, and I know the political elites would disagree heavily with the scribe, but I find myself agreeing with Ismail’s point on how Coloured people continue to be seen as “real Africans”. And the result of that, just like in the apartheid era, they (as a group) continue to be othered despite promises of a non-racialism as its(the ruling party) most selling point to power.
And if you want to fully see how that ill treatment of Coloured people is serviced by the political elites(not just the ANC), just look at how service delivery in predominantly Coloured areas is dispensed as compared to other areas dominated by other races. Also, if you ever worked in the public service, you will see how Coloureds are treated with disdain because of them not being “ real Africans” and the scribe uses his own experience as a proof of that.
Ismail is forcing us to have that long lingering conversation about who are the “real Africans” and our treatment towards them.
I take this book as some sort of a warning to the political elites that one day the Coloured people shall rebel against the political elites.
Too White to be Coloured Too Coloured to be Black is a true story of one man’s pain that continues to be shared by those who have been reduced into “foreigners” in the land of birth.