Simone Cupido is an educator at the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education, working towards feminist power in grassroots community structures. She is a Stellenbosch Alumni and recently attained her Master's in Public Policy and Administration from UCT.
Simone Cupido, a former student at Stellenbosch University, reflects on the resilience of racism and says there needs to be a national discourse on why racist cultures are persisting.
On the 15th of May 2022, I encountered a statement from one of the Sasco Student Representatives detailing a violent experience within the "koshuis" Huis Marias. A black student was asleep in his dorm room when a white male broke into his room and urinated on the desk where he studies, his laptop and possessions.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande condemns racist urination incident at Stellenbosch University
When the student asked why this was happening to him he was told "that's what happens to black boys".
Since then, for good reason, this "incident" has gone viral, caused outrage and drawn widespread condemnation.
I was a student and part of the 2015 Open Stellenbosch movement. I am coloured -- our place in white society surrounding Stellenbosch University is by no means as precarious as for...