Person My Colour

Introduction

If you are tired of hearing about ëwhitenessí, and if you think racism exists in the hearts of evil others, or you believe that having a black friend unshackles you from racismís hold, I dare you to read this book.

Author's Background

Martina Dahlmanns, the daughter of parents who grew up in the shadow of post-war Germany, an adoptive mother of children who are black, and a member of a dialogue group of black and white women, urgently questions the very depths of what it means to be white in South Africa today.

Book's Impact

Her deeply personal memoir is unsettling because of what it reveals simultaneously about the enduring impact of inherited privilege and the repercussions of disadvantage. Her book is unsettling, precisely because of what it reveals simultaneously about the enduring impact of inherited privilege and the repercussions of disadvantage.

Dialogue and Relationships

But it is Dahlmannsí dialogue with Tumi Jonasówhose own reflections appear in the last section of the bookóthat reveals so much of whatís possible, yet potentially destructive, in relationships between black and white South Africans today.