LifeTimes

Is the United States, with racial equality guaranteed in its constitution, really that much different than South Africa’s apartheid system of legalized discrimination? The answer is no, according to Mark Mathabane, a black South African exile, in his latest autobiographical book Kaffir Boy in America.

Mathabane [pronounced ma-ta-BAH-neh] eloquently illustrates how racial attitudes in the United States and South Africa are not as far apart as we in the “civilized” world would like to believe. And Mathabane ought to know. He grew up in Alexandra, one of the most filthy, poverty-stricken, crime-ridden townships created by apartheid. Mathabane escaped from that environment in 1978 to later become a bestselling author in exile. In this reviewer’s opinion, Mathabane, now age 29, is the most promising contemporary South African writer on the literary scene today.
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