Disclaimer: Originally published on the St. Cloud State University campus paper, the University Chronicle, on the February 12th 2009. Written by Kai.
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The word “colored” was given a new meaning Monday night in the Miller Center Auditorium.
Kiersten Chace from Monde World Films and Rev. Michael Adams from Cape Town, South Africa had a private screening for their documentary “I’m Not Black, I’m Colored.”
The directorial debut of Chace talks about the majority population of Cape Town that is known as the “cape colored.”
The documentary illustrated the history of Cape Town, the formation of the race “colored,” the identity crisis they are going through and the challenges they are currently facing.
The Cape Coloreds are people that are neither too fair to be considered white nor too dark to be considered black.
The ancestry of the Coloreds can be traced back to the mixed marriages between early Dutch settlers and the native Khoisan ethnic group.
The Coloreds are known for their own distinct culture and their diversely different physical appearance. Some Coloreds are as dark as Zulus while others may be as fair as Europeans. However, they all share a similar culture.
The screening attracted about 150 people, including both students and faculty of SCSU.
The documentary was inspired by a South African girl who brought the Colored to the attention of Chace in 1995.
More than 10 years after she was first introduced to the concept, Chace began filming in December 2006 and finished the documentary in December 2008.
“You’re not somebody, you’re a mix,” Adams said in the documentary. The film focused greatly on the discrimination that the Coloreds are facing in their post-apartheid country.
The film showed testimonials from Coloreds on many issues including the affirmative action programs in Cape Town.
The Q&A session kept many of the audience members rooted in their seats. Professor Robert Johnson of ethnic studies was among those who had questions for Adams.
Many students of SCSU were curious to know more about how the Coloreds are oppressed. Some students also offered their opinions on how similar discrimination is going on in the States.
One of the concerns the audience had was with the genetic DNA test that some of the Cape Colored underwent. Some of the members of the cast had their possible ancestry narrowed down through the DNA test. A member of the audience was troubled that the Coloreds might define themselves through genetics rather than culture.
Jonathan Anderson, a junior at SCSU, said he had “no idea what cape colored was,” before he saw the film. He said that he felt the film was “a little biased towards the Colored but it was presented quite professionally.”
Chace said that the film was created to “give them (Coloreds) a voice,” and that SCSU students can help just by letting other people know about the Coloreds.
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