Zozibini Tunzi's win shows that South Africa has come far

Back in 2013 I had a conversation with a South African friend about racism, segregation and colourism in South Africa and I was shocked about some of the things that she told me. My friend is classified as a 'coloured' in South Africa as her family are part of a multi-ethnic group which have their own separate racial classification. She told me that there was a time when white people would put a pencil into a black person's hair to see how tightly coiled it was. If the pencil stayed inside their hair, the person would face more discrimination but if the pencil fell to the floor because the person's hair was loosely curled, the person would be treated more favourably. I was horrified to hear that such things took place.

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Thankfully, the situation has changed in South Africa and black people are no longer second class citizens in their own country. I was delighted when I heard that Zozibini Tunzi, a beautiful black South African had won Miss Universe because there was a time when her image wouldn't have been promoted. Zozibini has shown little dark skinned girls with afro textured hair that they don't have to be ashamed of their God given crown. If anyone tries to mock them because a pencil can stick in their hair they can proudly show the person a picture of Zozibini and say 'I'm sure a pencil can stick in Zozibini's hair too but that didn't stop her from winning the Miss Universe competition!'