How can one turn their back on their own child? How can one deny what’s running through their blood? How can one accept one race without accepting the other? These are the questions you will ask yourself after seeing the film Skin.
Skin, a true story based on a girl named Sandra Laing who was born in South Africa. Sandra’s parent’s Abraham and Sannie were both white. Although Sandra’s parents were white her skin color showed otherwise.
When Sandra was a child she wasn’t accepted at the all white schools in her country. Her father did everything he could, even went to the Supreme court, but according to the school laws, no blacks were allowed to attend schools with white students.
Over the years Sandra’s dad became an angry man. He went from loving and fighting for his daughter to portraying the same hatred towards Sandra and other Africans. As Sandra became an adult her father pushed her towards white males for boyfriends, but Sandra didn’t have interest in none of them. She was forbidden to talk to African males, but there was something about Petrus that Sandra liked. Petrus worked with Sandra’s family and he took a strong liking to her.
Oneday down by the water it happened! Sandra finally fulfilled her sexual satisfaction with Petrus. When her parents found out she was seeing him they were disappointed. The more they were against her seeing Petrus, the more she spent time with him behind their backs.
Suddenly, without warning the homes of the Africans were torn down. Sandra, Petrus and their son were forced to evacuate with no where to go. Sandra, who had already declared herself as black couldn’t go back home with her parents because by then her dad had disowned her. He didn’t want to see his grandson and she wasn’t allowed to call. Even when she sent letters they were returned. After while Petrus began to show violent behavior from the alcohol he was over consuming. With now a daughter, Sandra left him. She tried to move back home but her parents moved away. She tried to find her way back home but she wasn’t successful. Later on after Sandra tried to declare herself back to white she and her two children made a living in Johannesburg.
Twenty years had gone past and Sandra still hadn’t seen her parents. However, she did find our her dad had died two years prior from cancer.
Sandra didn’t know where her mother was until she was informed that she suffered a stroke and was admitted to a nursing home. When Sandra reunited with her mother, Sannie, all she could do was live for the moment. Her mother later died in 2001 following Petrus death in 1987.
Skin, is a compelling and touching film that gives you insight on how one drop of blood can change your life forever. Sandra was the innocent victim until she had children and then they all became victims. Herself and her children are products of the European culture and there’s no denying it. Her father seemed to have no problem accepting his daughter at first, but he too had a problem accepting the color of her skin. He tried to make her skin lighter when he bought some skin whitener for her. He even called her white several times assisting in denying the color of her skin. Sandra was a black girl who happened to have white parents, something beyond her control. No matter how much her father and others tried to deny it, the proof was in the skin.
Somewhere down Sannie’s or Abraham’s family line an iota of blood seeped through the veins. Sandra also had two brothers but their skin was white. They too disowned their sister. In believing that Abraham loved his daughter he also allowed the system to decide his faith. Once he saw Sandra wasn’t accepted in the schools he should have moved out of the country. Regardless of what the law states or how the people around you may feel, Sandra was still his daughter. She didn’t ask to be here and if he accepted her being white he could have accepted her being black.
Love the skin you’re in!