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 Would rest On the pencil test.
When the head was shook, There was a look, Of relief, Physical and mental, When the pencil Fell to the floor, The child was white, If the hair was crinkly And thick, The pencil was passed Like a stick, Through the hair, From front to back And if it stalled, The verdict called Was black. What the parents Were hardly mattered, The child was reclassified And the family scattered, To search, A new school, A new church, And also there were Kids left Alone and bereft. Political apartheid has ended, But South Africa’s Not mended, Black, white and coloured Still live apart And a new start Is needed To remove the pain And finally end Apartheid’s reign.
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