My take on this "coloured" discussion: (1) It is not a monoculture or monolithic ethnic bloc. Very diverse cultures identify themselves as "coloured", including some Cape Malays, some Khoisan people, across languages and religions. Ethnically rooted in San, European, Javanese,..

... Filipino, Bantu, etc., etc. lineages. (2) It is very clear that some Coloured people identify themselves as "black" (which is OK), while some also don't (which is also OK). (3) The terminology "Coloured" and "Kleurling" with origins in Apartheid racial classification...

... is received differently by different people - some with pride, some with disdain and rejection. This is a matter of personal freedom and choice. Variants and alternatives exist, e.g. "kallit", "colourful people", "bruinmense", as a matter of preference and (in)formality.

It's unfair and not useful to deny millions of people the right to identify as/with an own, very rich culture with its own history, its own response to the political past of our country, and its own emergence from our particular history.

Forcing terminology originating from the USA on people who gladly self-identify in uniquely South African and Namibian terms, is also unwise and revisionist. Let each person decide for themselves. #coloured