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The
Peters lived in a mixed neighbourhood, but when the government
wanted Jo´burg to be all "white", the Peters were one of
the first families to leave.
Mrs
Peters often complained about the Whites and what they were doing
with them, but Mr. Peters didn't say much about that topic. He liked
to keep his mouth shut about such things. Mr. Peters was always
optimistic, he always tried to make his family feel better by saying
that it could have come worse.
Billy,
Omar and Jacob promised to meet each other even though they would be
separated by quite a distance, they didn't want to disobey the
governmental orders.
 Uncle
Richard was the one who wanted to give in the least, he was quite
upset since he had lost his job as a teacher. He had black friends,
therefore he had lost his job, so he could share his experiences with
them. Uncle Richard even argued with Mrs. Peters about the
defenition of words like "natives" and "Africans".
Uncle Richard hated how the government put every person into a
special group and gave them Identity Cards. Uncle Richard supported
the opinion that not the Boers themselves but the English had started
the Apartheid thing. He often attended political meetings where he
encountered the police methods and got hit by batons. Uncle Richard
realized that the treatment the Blacks had to endure was to come to
be the treatment of the Coloureds.
| The
family to which Mrs. Peters had to bring the Lone Ranger suit,
called her by her first name but treated her like a servant, she
hadn't sewn the suit fast enough.
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Mr.
Peters went to the registration office, although it wouldn't have
been necessary because of their move to Coronationville, but he
obeyed the instructions, because he wanted to do everything right.
The
black people, who had to carry the I.D. Card around with them, hated
it. The three boys saw for the first time the seriousness at the
Pass Office and what it meant to go there.
When
the Pass Office refused Mr. Peter’s classification as a Coloured
he stayed calm, and fell into a daze, he didn't yell and he didn't
cry, he just didn't say anything, and took it as done and final.
Like always he didn't see the sense in complaining.
The
whole family was shocked. The situation was serious, Mr. Peters
wouldn’t be allowed to supervise the workers in the factory anymore, because the
others were Coloureds, and Blacks weren’t allowed to supervise
Coloureds. So Uncle Richard told Mr. Peters not to tell his boss
about it.
At
the discussion following the Classification even the kids were
allowed to participate, because it would influence their future
severely.
Uncle
Richard suggested to take a lawyer and appeal, one of his friends
knew a lawyer who handled those things, and it was the first time
that Mrs. Peters didn’t argue with him about his friends.
Then
the family celebrated Jacob’s birthday in how far it was still
possible to celebrate, when Jacob blew out the candles he had a
desperate wish, but knew that it wouldn’t come as he had wished.
Instead of his dad he got the Lone Ranger suit, he had wanted for a
long time. But the suit didn’t count anymore.
| The only thing which
was important to him now, was that his dad was classified Black,
which meant that he couldn’t live with his family anymore. |
His
world broke apart.
Anneke
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