06-09-2009, 06:46 AM
From BRF
excerpt from Mahavamsa
I use the word racism in a simplistic sense. Racism has been used in terms of colour bar based racism and even those elements are there. I grew up with and romanticised Duttagemunu for example. Iâm a history romantic. And I grew up to love reading Dennis Clarkâs Golden Island, which is a childrenâs book about Duttagemunu. I would still love my children to read that, although you can see the racism there. The Tamils were dark or black skinned and the Sinhalese were the golden-skinned race. I remember, as a boy Duttagemunu refused to think of himself as betrothed to the daughter of the Tamil king. Why? Because she was black!
excerpt from Mahavamsa
I use the word racism in a simplistic sense. Racism has been used in terms of colour bar based racism and even those elements are there. I grew up with and romanticised Duttagemunu for example. Iâm a history romantic. And I grew up to love reading Dennis Clarkâs Golden Island, which is a childrenâs book about Duttagemunu. I would still love my children to read that, although you can see the racism there. The Tamils were dark or black skinned and the Sinhalese were the golden-skinned race. I remember, as a boy Duttagemunu refused to think of himself as betrothed to the daughter of the Tamil king. Why? Because she was black!