Jonathan Morgan

As a white guy (well, off-white) living in South Africa I often get called “sir” by people of colour. “How are you, sir?” at the shopping mall, “hello, Sir, can you spare 5 rand?” and so on.
Every time I hear this I feel sad and angry.
I feel even more frustrated when it’s someone who is my father’s age or older.

I might be hyper-sensitive, but it reminds me of the awful relationship that the people of South Africa have had with Europeans during the past 200 years. It upsets me that someone would feel the need to subjugate themselves, to not accept that they are equal to me.

Our interactions don’t have to have this awkward, undesired power structure built into them, but thanks to decades of inequality, of “putting them in their place,” I’m supposed to live with it.
Or I find myself getting angry at someone who also didn’t choose it.