Analysis Of Mark Mathabane's Kaffir Boy

Imagine living in a small dirty shack, with little to eat, and the constant fear of a police raiding. When an all white government gained power in South Africa in 1948, they began enforcing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid (Millett, 117). Apartheid is a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa (Webster Dictionary). The autobiography Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane, enlightens the understanding of this cruel system and how it affected the everyday life experiences of the people in South Africa during that time. Kaffir Boy illustrated the true terrors the blacks had to suffer through such as discrimination, …show more content…
This was the start of what they called “Operation Clean-Up Month,” black officers being led by white officers. This month was made to rid the ghetto of “unnecessary” blacks. Starting at a young age, Mathabane is learned to fear the police. White children were told that the police were not to be feared, however black children were forced to be scared due to the harsh words spewed by them and the brutal treatment received. “Before I knew what was happening one of them had kicked me savagely on the side, sending me crashing into a crate in the far corner.” (Mathabane 17) The first thing the police did was kick an innocent five year old. It later states that he hit the crate with such force he almost fainted. This was police brutality that only the blacks had to suffer through. This discrimination was everyday, it was not something that happened sparsely. Another form of the political discrimination was no black person could hold office in politics. They had no voice in the government, and had no chance of changing the system for a better …show more content…
Many of them did not know how to read or write which limited their options even further after the whites banned them from certain jobs. To even further their limitations, they were required to get a permit to start looking for a job. While talking about his father looking for another job after being laid off Mathabane states “But first he had to go to Bantu Affairs Department to obtain a permit to do so.”(35) Often times the white workers at the government buildings would postpone their application for minor things such as needing a certain document. The longer they had to wait to start looking for a job, the less jobs available and the more their families struggled