It took her years to pick up the pieces and restore her sense of self. Salary in 2020. We believe that every person's story is important as it provides our community with an opportunity to feel a sense of belonging, share their hopes and dreams. Subscribe to Our Life: https://bit.ly/3dBMxvlBorn in Apartheid-era South Africa to white Afrikaner parents, a quirk of genetics meant that she developed the . In other words, in a population of millions where mean non-White ancestry is ~5% a substantial number in absolute terms of individuals with discernible ancestry will exist. Taking their cue from the state, the community punished the family: ignored at church, refused ice cream at shops, rejected by nine schools, cursed. Mostly I try just to forget the past." Afraid that her kids would be taken away from her because of the racial difference, Sandra applied to get herself reclassified to black. MPAA rating: PG-13 (for thematic material, some violence and sexuality). The tight black curly hair and ever-darkening skin was noticeable to all and Sandra remembers being told by her mother to avoid the sun. Cast: Sophie Okonedo (Sandra), Alice Krige (Sannie), Sam Neill (Abraham). Sandra's brothers, said to be right-wing, still shun contact. In March, her brothers sent a letter to Ms. Laing, 44, who was facing eviction here, and promised to help her buy food. The tests they used to prove her fathers paternity could have been faulty. Sandra recalled: With the end of apartheid in 1990, Sandra felt her life was, at last, on an even keel, but that her lasting happiness depended on receiving forgiveness from her mother for having abandoned her. Sadly, she was refused because she was underage, and her father wouldn't consent. 'The visit lasted only ten minutes. At first, he slapped her. Im not trying to throw salt on Laings game, Im just not convinced the complete truth has been unearthed. Obviously the fact that a child who was obviously of non-white ancestry was born to conservative Afrikaner parents during the period of apartheid is a story which elicited some interest in South Africa at the time, and the talk of the town very literally. Not surprisingly the this individual will express an intermediate phenotype. We have two children Teresa Marie Laing, and Ian Ronald James Laing. By a biological quirk, the pigment of an unknown black ancestor had lain dormant for generations and manifested in Sandra. In 1987, Sandra's life took a pleasant turn when she met a truck driver, Johannes Motlaung. They never met again. She has said in interviews with The Guardian and Little White Lies that she continued to hope they would some day have a change of heart.[4]. 27 years later in 2000, a local newspaper helped facilitate a reunion with her mother before she died. Months short of her death, Sannie was bubbly and alert: "Now tell me again, about the children." Sannie sat with her eyes downcast. As Afrikaners, they had been indoctrinated in the Boer belief that to be white was pure and that people of mixed race were unstable and less intelligent. The rumours that Sannie must have slept with a black man were rife and, consequently, the entire family were shunned at church and on the streets. Sandra Laing (born 1955) is a South African woman notable for appearing as and being classified as coloured by authorities during the apartheid era, due to her Skin colour and hair texture, although she was the child of at least three generations of white ancestors. Zwane was released, but Sandra remained imprisoned for three months. As a young girl she knew she looked different but her biggest problems began when she showed up to school. 'But Ma looked up and I saw that she still loved me.'. Her parents, Abraham and Sannie Laing, were white - indeed, as members of the Nationalist Party, they were fervent supporters of South Africa's apartheid regime - and yet their daughter undeniably looked black, with her brown skin and tightly curled hair. Still, the conversations she enjoyed most were with the school's Zulu driver, Samuel. Except for secret trips to see her mother when her father was out of the house, Laing was estranged from her family and struggled to survive economically. Sandra Laing with her three children. She was clueless regarding her mother's whereabouts until she found her through a Johannesburg Sunday Times journalist. At 16, Sandra eloped with Zwane, a decision that would soon have profound consequences. Her paternal grandparents were Alfred Laing (18741962) of Memel, Germany (now Klaipda, Lithuania) and Hester Sophia Goosen (18771949); her maternal grandparents were Adriaan Roux (18761967) and Susanna Magrietha Veldman (18861967), after whom Sandra was named. Save up to 50% on Trending when you shop now. She attended a Coloured boarding school away from her family and became immersed in the non-white world. Ancestry kits could identify the proportion of non-European ancestry they have; one would expect if they were full-siblings and the offspring of their legal parents that they would all be mostly European, with a substantial non-European fraction. On the other hand, the normal assumption is that curly hair is dominat to straight, so the frizziness of Sandras hair is not easy to explain. Ive got colored and Blacks in my family and most of my friends are Black and [thats what race I most identify with].. Her African features were almost certainly a throwback to an unknown ancestor whose DNA, having lain dormant for generations, had emerged in her. Long before science learned to meddle with genes, there was Sandra Laing. In plain English these two populations express such different skin colors because their underlying genes which control this trait are totally different between populations. Answer (1 of 15): You've already had good answers, namely that no one's purebred, and no matter how . The Upsetting World of Primitive Brain Surgery. Although such tests are extremely imprecise due to the small number of blood types that most people can have, and the tests could not prove that he was her father, at least they did not disprove it. They kept Sandra out of the sun and, in their rural community, no one drew attention to her toffee-coloured complexion until she started school. At the age of 10, she was expelled from her all-white school, and the . Her problems were far from over, as when she went to seek treatment in hospital after being wrongly suspected of having cancer, the authorities took away her children and fostered them out. I had chosen not to be their sister and I had to lie on the bed I had made for myself.". Sandra recalled: "My father told me I was white. If youre in the Los Angeles Skin screens next month at the Pan African Film Festival before getting wider release. The tides of time changed, and Sandra found herself receiving increased recognition and unprecedented security. On the other hand, her fathers background was less well known. On the other hand, her fathers background was less well known. "I was afraid she was still mad at me. | Source: YouTube.com/Our Life. Written by . The heartbroken Afrikaner teenager had barely settled into her new life when the apartheid forced her and Zwane to leave their home. I didn't ask her where she was, but I did ask why they didn't let me know my father had died. But, I have noted thatthe arrow of dominanceseems to mildly point to, . Sandra pictured with her brown family. If you extrapolate this out to 4-6 loci you see that a full expected range may emerge. Laing lost contact with her family completely.[6]. Lets go back to numbers. 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DNA fingerprinting could ascertain whether they are full-siblings or half-siblings. Sannie, then aged 80, had suffered three strokes and Adriaan was convinced the shock of seeing Sandra could kill her. Find the best deals on Women's Handbags & Wallets from your favorite brands. 'She told us she was coming to fetch us for good. On the other hand, the normal assumption is that curly hair is dominat to straight, so the frizziness of Sandras hair is not easy to explain. "My parents were good people and they loved me very much." We also encourage everyone to report any crime incident they witness as soon as possible. In 1967 she was reclassified white when the law changed to say the child of two white parents could not belong to another racial group. Susanna Magrietha "Sandra" Laing was born in 1955 to Susanna Margaretha "Sannie" (ne Roux) (19202001) and Abraham Laing (19161988), Afrikaners in Piet Retief, a small conservative town in South Africa during the apartheid era, when laws governed officially established social castes of racial classification. Sandra's school teachers explicitly stated that they didn't want her to go to any white institution in South Africa. $1 Million - $5 Million. The story of Sandra Laing - of how she was reclassified as 'coloured' by the government and how her parents, insisting that she was their biological child, took their battle to keep her 'white' all the way to the Supreme Court - caused an international furore. . Remember that 5% is apopulation average, not the ancestry of any given individual. She was jailed for three months for illegal border-crossing. If they mate with someone of similar parentage, the outcome will be controlled byMendelian expectations: As you can see, on this locussomeof the offspring are expected to be more European and some more African, while the largest number will reflect the parental combination. I could bring up something like, , gene X gene interactions which will produce outcomes outside of your linear extrapolations. The likeness is startling. First, it is important to remember that Afrikaners are an old settler population, most of their ancestors arrived in South Africa in the 18th century or earlier. She settled well with her new family. She is from South Africa. Shop the best selection of deals on Food Storage now. Her brothers also were high yellow but light enough to pass for white. Many people have tried to contact Laing's brothers over the years . As a confused teenager she eloped with a black man, causing her parents to disown her. Find the best deals on Small Appliances from your favorite brands. I felt at home. Therefore, on the 10th of March,1966, Sandra was taken off the school grounds. This story will shock you! Sandra Laing's paternity was under some debate, and it was a working assumption by many that the mother was unfaithful. Eventually, the court dismissed Sandra in the care of Zwane and his mother, Jenny. Sandra Laing. She had two brothers, Leon and Adriaan, but Sandra's skin was darker, and her black hair was tightly curled, unlike her brothers and parents. As you can see Adriaan, . . Save up to 50% on Pets when you shop now. 'We just talked like brother and sister.'. And what about proving her mothers maternity? She liked chatting with the customers, especially Petrus Zwane, a Swazi vegetable seller. Again, I know anything it could be true, but Laings story is extreme. And through a quirk of genetics, ten-year-old Sandra was about to become another potent symbol of a nation built on race and prejudice. But Ma looked up, and I saw that she still loved me," recounted Sandra. From that fact it seems plausible that Sandra Laings mother was more than 5% non-white, as she had more recent non-white ancestry than most Afrikaners, and so likely a greater quanta. In 1962, her school started campaigning against her, which lasted four years. In. Within 18 months, Sandra was making the same trip with her second child - a daughter named Elsie. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. From birth Sandra Laing looked different than her parents and siblings, but they treated her the same. From that time she drew the . Shop our favorite Women's Shoes finds at great prices. The affair created an unbridgeable chasm between Abraham and his daughter. 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