Poor Is the New Black

I have never been a fan of rich people…they smell funny. They smell of superiority and their condescending attitude makes my face itch. I always assumed I was born this way and God must have had his reasons for giving me this allergy. I was then confronted with the fact that my whole family was suffering from the same allergy…this made me blame genetics, until I realised that my entire neighbourhood suffered the same symptoms. Could this be an airborne disease that was spreading throughout my community? Or was my itchy face a symptom of something larger than an allergy? It was not an allergy, it was fear. I, along with my community, am suffering from a phobia against the rich and powerful?

I was always a bit of a misfit in school. I could never quite put my finger on why though. I thought of myself as quite a smart and might I add hilarious kid, and so I could never quite understand why I had to fight so hard for my popularity. It was upon moving to an all girls’ high school that things where put into perspective. What I had originally identified as racism I later realised was classism. I was poor. Poor people don’t get to be cool, make decisions, complain or have opinions. The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became and the more obvious it was the angrier I got. This infuriated me because, firstly; I could not understand why there was an ongoing competition about money in high school when none of us made any, and secondly; so what if I came from a long line of domestic workers, how was that a twelve year olds business? In retrospect I am now able to identify this epiphany as the cave from whence my phobia emerged.

We as South Africans have managed to tip toe and dance around the fiery coal that is apartheid since its down fall 20 years ago. White South Africans spend their days avoiding words like; black, brown, you people and good old days. While black South Africans spend their days avoiding words like; guilt, blame, your fault and civil war. I’m sure we can avoid this for infinity however what we can’t avoid are the new trends of segregation we find ourselves subjected to.

The fact that being of a certain class could see you receiving better service in stores or from public service providers should bother us. All one has to do is look at the fact that some communities are still subjected to the indignity that is the “bucket system” instead of proper sewerage systems for one to see that something is definitely amiss. Also, listen to the “Why bother” responses that emerge when the idea of building development or learning centres in rural areas or townships is brought up in social circles. The argument: “Why bother, they are just going to burn them down and piss on the ashes”. Now ask yourself; who are “they”? Twenty years ago black South Africans would have squirmed under the general understanding that they were the “they” being referred to. However nowadays it is not as easy to pull the race card because black people are in power. So “they” are the poor. And once again an enormous percentage of South Africans (57% according to a study conducted by Craig Schwabe - 2004) are getting the short end of the stick.

So whose responsibility is it this time to co-ordinate a rescue operation? Those in power? No, because power and money go hand in hand and the most difficult thing about being poor is that rich people find you so annoying. Every protest against poor service delivery that is broadcast on the seven o’clock news is met with sighs of irritation from the rich and successful. Never mind the fact that people who live in poverty stricken areas of South Africa are at the mercy of their councillors and mayors, and when the government fails to deliver; they are the ones who feel the impact the hardest. The irony, of course, is nestled in the fact that these are the very people who keep the above mentioned government in power and so one would expect the government to be leaping through hoops to make them feel attended to. But government, or should I say; those in power, know that they don’t have to, because few things are more stubborn than the loyalty of the down trodden.

The one thing that could emancipate the poor from their gloomy fate; education, is rationed to them sparingly and they are left to rely on their God given flare for academics to derail their path to perpetual poverty. I have family members who have to get to school early to sweep human faeces and cow dung off the floor before class starts, they are seven years old. I feel like someone should prepare them for the fact that their educational problems have just begun and that even in this day and age, some of their class mates will only ever see a computer when they get to varsity…if they get to varsity. They should know that they can work as hard as they want but in all probability their destiny will be defined by a combination of luck and the mercy of a person in a class above their own. They should know that it is not their fault; it is because they are poor and poor is the new black.

Few things can contend with the powerful emotion that is hopelessness. Those in power should be ashamed that they evoke this emotion in the very people that propel them. The thing about poverty is that it is everybody’s problem. When you are not poverty stricken, you are so happy that you are not poor you try to avoid rocking the boat.

According to the rich, the poor have a false sense of entitlement. But one must ask oneself; are they not entitled? The portions of South Africa that are poor now are the same people that were poor twenty years ago, so are they not entitled to something? They fought through this country’s darkest times and those in power rode on the backs of the poor to their present, elite glory. Are they not owed, at the very least, an explanation?

So whose responsibility is it to co-ordinate the rescue operation? I shudder to think that this may be a revolution that may never happen because society’s general consensus is that poverty is poor people’s problem.