Kaffir Boy Identity Quotes

The ordeal lasted the entire day, at the end of which I seethed with hatred and anger; I wanted to kill somebody. I can't take this degradation anymore, I told myself as I headed for the black bus stop, new passbook in hand: it contained my picture, fingerprints, address, employers address, age, colour of hair and eyes, height, tribal affiliation – it contained every detail of my life necessary for the police to know my life history upon demand, and I was supposed to carry the damn thing with me every hour of the day and night.

But how could we blacks allow whites to do this to us--to degrade us, to trample on our dignity – without fighting back? The fact that for the rest of my life I was doomed to carry the odious thing – a reminder of my inferior station in South African life – filled me with outrage and revived my determination to get to America. (53.98-99)

My father, in light of my continued successes at school, had begun claiming all the credit. For instance, each time we had visitors, my performance at school would come up for discussion, and my father would be quick to point out that I had "inherited his exceptional brain." Yet the next minute he would be warning my mother not to "waste money on school materials, because an education was a worthless thing to have as a black man." I could not understand the apparent contradiction. (29.84).

"Pickaninny has one brother and three sisters," Granny said of me, "and the fifth one is on the way."

"My God! What a large family!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed. "What's the pickaninny's name?"

Using pidgin English, I proceeded not only to give my name and surname, but also my grade in school, home address, tribal affiliation, name of school, principal and teacher – all in a feverish attempt to justify Granny's label of me as a "smart one." (30.68-70).