The Pencil Test

The Pencil Test Sportsmen and Entertainers Opened their hands, Closed their eyes, And took Krugerrands. Under Apartheid, There was black And white and Fourteen types of coloured, And in order to be seen To be correct, The authorities Could the fourteen reject And a fifteenth select. Like Mendel And his peas Recessive genes Caused the sight Of a slight Change in colour Of children Previously white. Sometimes, The authorities Couldn’t be sure, If a child was pure, So inspectors went Into the schools, Followed the rules And with great care, Placed a pencil In the child’s hair, The child’s colour…

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