My father was a “Boss Boy”

My father was a “Boss Boy”.

“Boss Boy was the highest rank in the hierarchy of jobs then attainable by Blacks. There could be no progress beyond that rank without a blasting certificate and only Whites were eligible for that qualification. Thus had Whites assured themselves of their jobs and higher pay. The term Boss Boy was later dropped in favour of Team Leader.”

From David Goldblatt’s On the Mines (2012)

The question is: if my father, in 1972, under those overtly racist and oppressive conditions, could be a “boss boy”, given the privileged and better opportunities I have, what can I be? This is where part of me to continue my father’s “boss boy” story is firmly rooted.