Recently in Johannesburg, South Africa four white students were seen in a video that contains five black housekeepers taking part in activities in the style of those held on the show “Fear Factor.” Two of the white men taking part in the video were students at the University of Free State and were banned from campus after the video was released. This video, they called the “Reitz Fear Factor,” showed these black Africans in a race, but it was played in slow motion with the background music from “Chariots of Fire.” In a different scene, these housekeepers are competing to drink a bowl of stew while on their knees. The white males had urinated in this mixture before it was given to the contestants. The black employees were laughing when they started to drink the stew, with potential urine in it, and it was claimed that they were aware of the reasons for making this film (“Whites”). The four white students created the video in reaction to the school’s efforts to try to integrate its residences. Eighteen years after the official end of apartheid, they were still separated into white and black dormitories (“Outrage”). Apartheid is the practice that separates people according to race (dictionary.com). At the end of the movie, there is a message saying, “That, at the end of the day, is what we think of integration,” (“Outrage”

).

This video was shocking, and contained many offensive racist references in it. It is surprising to see how inconsiderate people can be towards their community even if they are trying to convey a message that they feel strongly about. The video contains disturbing content that would be banned anywhere, no matter the race of the people in the video. The activities that the black Africans take part in are humiliating, and show how the white race had more power, brains, and speed than the black race before the white-minority rule in 1994.  Just because the racist actions are less common, there are still tensions between the white and black race around the world. South African people will have to join the effort to make their country unify, and videos that satire the racial problems do not remind the nation of their goal. The deputy chairwoman of the South African Human Rights Commission, Dr. Zonke Majodina, said, “We’ve taken for granted that just scrapping the old apartheid laws is going to make things work better in our vision for a nonracial South Africa, but in fact it’s not going to happen overnight,” (“Outrage”

).

There have been recent protests to the new integration laws on campus, but these small riots should not prevent the two races coming together in the same institution. This video makes people aware of what is going on in South Africa, but it brings up negative reviews and the stronger urge to fight racism in Africa. The white students are laughing at the black workers as they play rugby, and the workers are forced to complete senseless tasks so that they can be to ones to laugh at. The South African government is not doing nearly enough to bring about a change in attitudes (“S. Africa”

). Former president, Nelson Mandela, said,

“We’re in denial that there’s a problem,” (“S. Africa”

)

South Africa has horrifying racist past, and South African universities have undergone massive changes since the fall of the apartheid state 14 years ago (“S. Africa”

). Although there is progress, the government must grab this bull by the horns and take action to successfully integrate South Africa.

SOURCES

“Outrage over a racist South African university video.”

The Citizen. 27.Feb 2008. Citizen.com. 28 Feb 2008. http://www.citizen.co.za/index/Article.aspx?pDesc=1,1,22&Type=top&File=080227153211.yzplymec.xml

“Whites tricked blacks into consuming urine, university says.”

CNN. 28 Feb 2008. CNN.com/world. 28 Feb 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/27/saf.racist.video/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

“S. Africa students sorry for racist video.”

CNN. 29 Feb 2008. CNN.com/World. 28 Feb 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/28/saf.racist.video/index.html?eref=rss_world