Issues to do with the Supreme Court Scene in SKIN
We see the Laing’s, having failed to get anywhere at hearings at the Ministry of the Interior, take their case to the Supreme Court in the South African capital Pretoria. In reality, this 1967 appeal actually failed and Judge Galgut only re-confirmed Sandra’s ‘coloured’ status. His decision however, generated lots of publicity for the Laings – something that Abraham encouraged. At this time, the Apartheid regime were trying to bring even firmer control to racial classification by forcing everyone to carry ID cards, which officially declared each person’s race. The new Population Registration Act, which determined the details that made up the ID cards, laid it down that such classifications should be based no longer on appearance but rather on the race of a person’s parents. So soon after the Galgut ID card decision, Sandra found herself classified as white again. Not that having ‘white’ stamped on her ID card solved any of Sandra’s problems particularly – can you suggest why?
