Should we be ashamed to be Afrikaans?

Question

I am Afrikaans and I could not be any prouder of this fact! Although I have a male friend who is also Afrikaans but he hates that fact... I totally understand why though.... Apartheid did have a big affect in our lives and the crime isn't to good . But is that any reason to denie who we really are? I mean South Africa or any part of Africa is a part of us!

Answer 1

I am proud to be Afrikaans, I always will be, I am also proud that I am a white South African.

Answer 2

Yes you should be.

Answer 3

it is a pity, but you have to be proud of being Afrikaans. you will have to tell your children where you are from. you owe that to them and i know they will feel proud of coming from South Africa. my hero, Nelson Mandela, also comes from there.

i am proud of him!

Answer 4

You should be proud to be who you are without attaching some kind of tribal "nationality" label to it.

I hate it when people say that they are proud to be "this" or proud to be "that", it is totally meaningless most of the time and leads one down a dangerous road in general.

Answer 5

You will always be a South African in your heart.

You can take a South African out of South Africa, but you cannot take South Africa out of the South African.

Answer 6

"Deny"  "Citizenship"

Be proud of your language. I'm proud to say that I can speak Afrikaans more fluently than most other SA English speakers. Afrikaans is an integral part of our identity as South Africans. Your friend should be ashamed of his attitude towards his home language. And by the way, Apartheid was a fantastic system that kept us all a lot safer than South Africans now are, and kept the country functioning properly. I love the Oranje, Blanje, Blou, I love Afrikaans, and I love our proud heritage. May Siener Van Rensburg be correct in his predictions regarding the demise of the current SA government!

Wees trots op jou land, volk, en die briljante prestasies van jou voorvaders en moenie om die bos gelui word dat Apartheid sleg was nie!

EDIT* Ayiza: Just because you have cause to be ashamed of your useless language, doesn't mean the asker should be afraid of his/hers.

Answer 7

No, you needn't be ashamed. Your friend feels guilty for emigrating and now seeks to justify his decision.

To be Afrikaans does not mean you identify with apartheid or racism. There were a lot of Afrikaners who were sympathetic to the liberation struggle and who were even persecuted for it. It is unfair to lump all Afrikaners under the same category because of the actions of the apartheid regime. Lots of black people were also complicit in it. Most young Afrikaners are happy to get on with their lives in South Africa, contributing to the societies in which they live as productive, law-abiding citizens.

I wonder if Ayiza could say the same?

Answer 8

Why? You cannot change some things such as your genetic makeup. It is good to be realistic and if you are like my Afrikaans relatives, you can't hide that accent no matter what you do (lol) so why bother trying?

Far better to learn about some of the good achievements of your people and be proud of those achievements than to bury yourself in shame for things you had no control over. There are ugly little spots in everyone's past. If you recognize them then you know what you can do to make sure you don't repeat them. That is, in the end, what life is about. Learning and improving.

  

Answer 9

Well,of course you shouldn't be ashamed.I suppose it must be a very difficult task to deal with the world's general prejudice,but the desirable thing to do would be to break free of all of this and completely accept your identity.

Answer 10

To be ashamed of your language (Afrikaans) is to be ashamed of your heritage is to be ashamed of yourself.

Apartheid is an ideology of the past and Afrikaans speaking people were strong enough to admit their mistakes and rectify it.

Why is Afrikaans seen as one of our official languages if we were to be ashamed of it?

Citizenship got nothing to do with it  

Answer 11

If you can not be proud of your heritage, of who and what you are, then what are you proud of  -  a new land or language with a past you basically know nothing about.......SA is not perfect at all, i also hate what is happening here, but i will always be a SA citizen, proud to speak Afrikaans  - it is who and what i am  

Answer 12

never be ashamed of being African. its you roots and so very important.

you can move but always be proud of you history. just forget the negatives but also learn from them.

go south Africa

lets get some more medals from Beijing  

Answer 13

Never no shame what so ever

People that answer this Q yes they are the ones that should be ashamed cause they don't know what they talking about not even the male friend they only know what the media said and not the real facts see Alf's answer at a previous Question

• The Native Pass Law (1809) of the British Government compelled Black people to carry pass books;

• In 1865 Sir Theophilus Shepstone made it impossible for Black people to vote in Natal;

• Cecil John Rhodes in 1894 stopped a Brown man, Krom Hendriks, from taking part in a South African cricket tour to England;

• Rhodes and Milner in 1905 introduced compulsory division between Black and White scholars in Cape schools;

• The Native Land Act 2(1913) prohibited land ownership by Blacks;

• Min. H.W. Sampson (1925) introduced job reservation as regards the Law pertaining to Mines and related industries;

• The Immorality Act in Natal (1927) prohibits sexual relations between people of different race and colour. (This was confirmed by Law 23 of 1957);

• Gen. J.C. Smuts in 1936 introduced separate representation in Parliament;

• The Native Urban Area Act 25 (1945) stated that Blacks may not, without a permit, remain for 72 hours in an urban area;

• The National Party in 1948, defeating the SA Party at the ballot box, respected all land- and provincial legislation, and stuck to existing entry and non-entry signs at all state departments, public places and businesses which indicated where the various races would be served.

At the start of the Verwoerd era, freedom was given to all those who wanted to utilise it. Self-government was offered to the various Black nations, an offer they grabbed  

Answer 14

Never be ashamed of who you are. There are a lot of people out there who generalize, let them do it. You know who you are and should be proud.