Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? A Fractured Brotherhood

In the rich, vibrant tapestry of South Africa, a troubling contradiction continues to unfold a conflict that sees dark brown people turning against others who share not just the same skin tone, but the same ancestral roots. It’s a reality too painful to ignore, especially when South Africans mostly dark-skinned themselves shout at fellow Africans to “go back to your country,” dismissing shared history, culture, and bloodlines in favor of artificial borders and colonially imposed identities.

A Brotherhood Broken by Borders from Zimbabweans and Mozambicans to Nigerians and Congolese, African migrants who come to South Africa in search of safety, opportunity, and brotherhood are too often met not with solidarity, but with hostility. They're called "foreigners," treated with suspicion, and sometimes even hunted down by mobs who believe their mere presence is a threat. Yet, when you remove the flags, accents, and passport stamps, what remains? Brothers & sisters Africans.

The real tragedy lies not just in the violence, but in the psychology behind it: How did the oppressed learn to mimic the mindset of the oppressor?

The irony is hard to miss. While fellow dark-skinned Africans are demonized and scapegoated, many South Africans still place light-skinned people whether white locals or foreigners on a pedestal. Economic opportunity, social admiration, and even beauty standards continue to revolve around the proximity to whiteness. Light skin is still seen by many as a symbol of power, order, and success, while fellow dark-skinned Africans are seen as unwanted competition or threats.

This mindset didn’t develop overnight. It’s the residue of centuries of colonization & apartheid a long campaign that taught African people to see themselves as inferior and their African neighbors as "other." Today, that programming runs so deep, it pits brother against brother.

If you may ask who Benefits from this division? Certainly not the dark-skinned masses. When communities turn on each other, the real issues inequality, unemployment, corruption, poor leadership get ignored. The system remains intact. The cycle of poverty and violence continues. And while communities fight over crumbs, the elite often lighter-skinned or Western-backed eat at the top of the table, untouched.

This division serves a purpose. It keeps Africa weak. It keeps Africans looking inward in anger instead of outward in unity. It's time to ask some hard questions:

Why do Dark Skin South African fear & hate those who look like them?

Why do they show more grace to foreigners with light skin than to Africans who share their same story?

And most importantly, who taught them to see other dark skin people as threats?

If they are to heal as a country, they must begin by deconstructing the false narratives they've inherited. They must unlearn the colonial lie that their Dark skin neighbor’s misfortune is their gain. They must stop seeing Other African migrants as "invaders" and start seeing them as partners in the struggle for a better Africa.

To all the dark brown people of South Africa: this is not a condemnation it is a plea. You are powerful. You are beautiful. But your power multiplies when joined with your brothers & sisters across the continent. You have nothing to gain from hating your own reflection, and everything to gain from building African unity.

History will remember who stood for unity when it was easier to hate. Let it remember you as the generation that broke the cycle, not continued it.