HONORARY WHITE Quotes

“Then lunch was ready and we were seated, and I realized that this was a first for all or nearly all of them. They were sharing the same board on equal terms with a black man, and no matter how they might rationalize it to themselves that simple fact was incontrovertible.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“he had told me that he was one of the group of censors in South Africa who had voted to ban the showing of the film of my autobiography, To Sir, with Love. When I’d asked him the reason for the ban, he’d replied, “As we watched that film at a private showing, we were all irritated by the sight of that black teacher being so right all the time.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“Settled in the well-appointed lounge with my host to await the other guests, I drank a glass of sherry with him, amused that we were in fact breaking the law which forbade Blacks and Whites to drink alcoholic beverages together. Unable to keep the thought to myself, I shared it with him. “Let’s put it this way,” he told me. “You’re an overseas visitor, a world famous author, VIP. During your stay in South Africa you have the honorary status of a white man.” That spoiled it for me, my mood of friendly ease evaporating completely, giving way to a rage which I fought to control. I put my glass down and looked at him, hating the arrogance which led him to assume that he, they, could change the color of my skin to suit their whim. No, not change it. Just overlook it, ignore it to the point where it did not exist for them and they could superimpose their choice upon it.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“That way they keep us distrustful of each other, suspicious, so we’re unwilling to come together in any real way to help each other.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“What happened when the film To Sir, with Love was shown here?” “Same thing.” “No Blacks allowed to see the black actor?” “Not here in Johannesburg. Blacks and Whites are prohibited by law from congregating in the same place.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“The “Honorary White” thing was no better than a kick in the ass. The intention was the same. To humiliate the black visitor; to deny him the dignity of his blackness; to remind him that in that society he had no identity except that which they, the Whites, chose to let him have. As a Black I was invisible, not there, not to them. To be seen and heard, I needed an overlay on my invisibility.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“Ironically, my guide spoke of the bungalows and their owners proudly, as if those people had been specially “allowed” to achieve that much, her voice crisp and objective as if she were speaking of cold, inanimate things, not insecure human beings who were forced to live in fear that one fine day the dreams they’d earned would be snatched away from them.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“According to South African law, a hotel can accept non-white guests only if it obtains a special permit or license to do so, and very few such permits are issued. Non-Whites are Blacks, Asians, and those of mixed blood (Coloreds). Ironically, only the best, the five-star hotels, are licensed to accommodate Non-Whites. Native Non-Whites, of course, rarely have either the means or the temerity to use these hotels. To complicate the situation further, visiting Non-Whites are designated “Honorary White” to insure, it is claimed, their insulation and exemption from the many embarrassments which would otherwise attend them. I discovered that this title was first conceived to meet the special circumstances of Japanese businessmen who came to establish footholds for their companies in the South African market. They could not, like indigenous Non-Whites, be contemptuously restricted and segregated, so it was decided to “whiten” them for as long as they lived and worked in South Africa. Eventually, all non-white visitors were called “Honorary White.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White

“Early in 1973, long after I had left the U.N., a friend in Guyana sent me a clipping from the South African Official Gazette. The clipping stated that, as of that date, the ban on all books by E. R. Braithwaite was lifted. I was surprised and, on impulse, telephoned the South African Consul General in New York. I said that I had just learned of the lifting of the ban from my books, and even as I thought of it, asked whether the ban was lifted from the author as well.”
― E.R. Braithwaite, Honorary White