Everyone knows Racism has been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices, and actions against “racial” or ethnic groups, throughout the history of the United States. Nowadays Tyla exploded onto the global music scene with her hit song Water, the South African singer did not just gain attention for her silky R&B vocals and viral dance moves. Tyla’s proud description of herself as “Coloured” has also caused controversy, particularly in the US, where the word has a painful racist history and is no longer in use. It was a strategy to divide and rule Coloured and Black South Africans, with the apartheid regime doling out slightly better jobs, houses and other benefits to Coloured people. Even today, many Coloured South Africans continue to reject being called Black. From that displacement, which tore apart countless families, a culture has developed, from unique music and humour to food such as koeksisters – syrup-drenched dough balls served warm, infused with spices and rolled in coconut – and huge Gatsby sandwiches stuffed with chips and meat. In June, when interviewing Tyla in the studio, the US radio DJ Charlamagne that God asked her to explain the “debates that they are having about your identity”, the 22-year-old refused to answer. In a statement posted online later that day, she said: “I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of [South Africa] by anyone not comfortable doing so because I understand the weight of that word outside [South Africa]. But to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a Black woman.”
