“Embracing Being Everything”: Lady Breaks Down True Coloured Heritage, SA Reacts

• A woman on TikTok answered a question that had been on many South African minds, including Trevor Noah
• Shakirah Dramat explained to Mzansi what coloured heritage is beyond the swirlkouse and koeksisters
• Social media users appreciated the information and shared their views in a thread of comments 

Every year on Heritage Day, coloured people wear their nightgowns and prepare some of their staple foods.

One lady on TikTok explained that while the 'gaam' attire might be their culture, it is far from their heritage.

SA lady explains coloured heritage on TikTok

Heritage Day is one of the days when South Africans unapologetically express their diversity on a large scale. Different tribes and ethnic groups dress in traditional attire and cook some staple foods.

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For a while, the coloured community was confused about where they came from. They would dress in nightgowns to celebrate the culture forced on them by the apartheid government and publicly questioned by Trevor Noah, who called coloured people the lost nation.

A woman on TikTok, Shakirah Dramat, explained that although she sees nothing wrong with how coloured people express themselves on Heritage Day, it's time to dig a little deeper. She shared that the coloured culture is a struggle identity imposed on them by the struggle:

"We come from so many places around the world, and we came together to create something truly unique, which is now coloured culture."

She urged many to speak to their elders to find out where they come from and who they were before colonisation stripped their identity away.

Watch the video below:

Mzansi reacts to true coloured heritage 

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Social media users appreciated the lady's input and commented:

@Jessnovel.Tea felt creative after learning about coloured heritage: 

"I literally did my masters on this; got to make a comic book from it!"

@Tamaryne ✨explained: 

"Colouredness is so beautiful, and I think I feel this is a diasporic longing. There's just so much pain from what was lost, and reclaiming our stories, even if it's a kaleidoscope of struggle, can help heal."

@waahidgabriels739 shared his story: 

"My culture is literally klopse. Great-grandfather and grandfather had winning troupes and grew up in a close kamer on a Sunday. Lucky from my mother's side, we know enough to know we are Portuguese Javan."

@chelsiageswint highlighted: 

"The beauty in being coloured is our diversity. We need to get comfortable not being defined as one thing or another but embracing being everything."

@Alexia Brown unpacked her diverse heritage:

"My granny looks Indian. My grandpa looks like a Khoi, but his grandpa was a Scottish man living in a coloured area. My mom's granny was a German Jew who married an Indian to stay in S.A in St Helena."

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Gent shares trauma of growing up coloured

Briefly News also reported that a South African gent hopped on TikTok to discuss the unspoken dark side of growing up poor in Mzansi.

Berlin Williams appeared to be emotional as he shared his lived experiences of having to hustle his whole life as a coloured man post-apartheid.

Social media users related to his story and added their own in the comments.

Source: Briefly News