CAPE TOWN: His book about coloured identity is timely as it has been launched just before Heritage Day.
Bastaards or Humans. The Unspoken Heritage of Coloured People, by Dr Ruben Richards, was launched at the Castle of Good Hope on Tuesday night.

Cape Town-born Richards said he felt the need to address and trace the heritage and identity of coloured people without feeling marginalised.

He said the book was inspired by the displacement of his people in South African society as they are constantly “bastardised and racially discriminated against”.

Richards said the title stems from the Dutch word “Baarstard”. “This was the word they used to refer to coloured people during colonisation and apartheid.” Video by: Lubabalo Poswa/ANA