When I see a black person is racist towards a coloured person, I accept it as retaliation for coloured racism, says Keanu Daniels.
I am a 22 year old South African and resident of Cape Town.
I am a member of the first generation of born-frees in my country's recently achieved democratic status.
Despite the occasional urge to generalise, I can only give you a perspective of how we are affected by this going forward from my personal experiences and those of my peers.
Growing up in Eersterivier where most people are coloured, I was lucky enough that a vast amount of black people lived there too.
Being a 10-year-old at the time, one barely notices race or racism apart from what you're taught in school or what you see happening on television.
To see these black kids speak Xhosa was understandable and hearing them speak Afrikaans better than me, was normal.
I had not known about segregation until being taught about it in High School and accepted that white people lived better off because it was normal.
It was normal, but I knew it was not right.
School taught me about Apartheid and that we were only a democratic nation since 1994, the same year that I was born in.
Personally, I had always felt a bit more privileged and entitled because of this. Of course to me it would be natural that all of my peers feel this way too.
The fact that we would have the opportunity to grow up as the first generation of born-frees and could either be the driving force that steers this nation into greatness, or let those that sacrificed so much for us down.
I began thinking about what I would like to achieve and do when I grow up.
I applied myself at school and sports, trying to refrain from gang influence.
Much of this was fueled by the void I had noticed between black and coloured people.
Many coloured people would make negative comments or gestures towards black people that I would disagree with.
When I see a black person is racist towards a coloured person, I accept it as retaliation for coloured racism or the general lack of acceptance from coloured people that we are in fact black.
As it turns out, there are a lot of born-frees who feel the same way I do. However, they are not necessarily born in the same year as me.
I have many coloured peers in my age group who sadly, do not feel any burden or any sort of special feeling towards being born-free.
Many claim they either don't see racism or aren't affected and wouldn't see themselves going out of their way to try and accomplish anything that would be seen as beneficial to people of colour.
When I look at black kids born in 1994, I see a desire and determination that too many coloured kids lack.
They would apply themselves and if they are not capable to do so, find ways to make what they are doing a success.
Of course there are coloured kids who work this way too. I see a lack of strong will too often amongst the first generation of coloured born-frees in South Africa.
An acceptance that white privilege is elite and that we are inferior, is a mentality that is still rife in eKasi and on the Cape Flats.
There are kids however who are not burdened by this mentality and accept the weight of the responsibility they have been given by those before them.
In all, I had hoped that I would encounter a lot more born frees in my age group who felt like they had something special to offer because of the year they were born in, but am grateful nonetheless that there are still so many out there willing to try and make a difference for a positive and better future for all South Africans.