Reflections on racism levelled against Black learners at Historically White South African schools

ABSTRACT

Alumni discussions about racism and discriminatory practices experienced by Black learners at Historically White Schools (HWSs) in South Africa were triggered by the 2020 George Floyd incident. Several HWSs were accused of racist acts and discrimination by learners and alumni on social media forums during the Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations. It is concerning that after 28 years of democracy, racism still exists in South African schools, specifically HWSs. Many media and social media outlets continue to feature learners’ stories and encounters with racist behaviour. It is against this backdrop that this reflective paper engages with racism levelled against Black learners attending HWSs, precipitated by the BLM. The findings display that hashtag social campaigns in South Africa, after the appearance of the George Floyd incident in the United States, highlighted racism and various discriminatory practices in several HWSs in South Africa. The postings seem to have compelled some multicultural schools to effect genuine change and to locate diversity at the helm of a transformed South African educational system. This study recommends that education authorities initiate country-wide dialogues around anti-racism in HWSs, equip prospective teachers with skills, and deal with White privilege to address racism.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• Historically White schools
• Black Lives Matter

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anthony Mpisi

Anthony Mpisi holds a PhD degree in Educational Psychology and is currently a senior lecturer at the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, South Africa. He has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences and has published several articles in accredited journals. Dr Mpisi has authored book chapters and supervises postgraduate students at honours, master’s and PhD level. His research interests include multicultural education, particularly in a post democratic South Africa, diversity education, social justice education and teacher education, with special focus on the preparedness beginner teacher to teach.

Gregory Alexander

Gregory Alexander is a full professor in the Department Postgraduate studies in Education Faculty of Humanities at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He holds a PhD degree in Educational Psychology and has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences and has published several articles in accredited journals. Prof Alexander has supervised many master’s and PhD students and has led numerous research projects both nationally and internationally. His interest, expertise and experience cut across areas relating to multicultural education, learning and teaching in diverse schooling contexts, social science education and pre- and in service teacher training.