An Overview Of Apartheid In South Africa

Improved Essays
In life there will always the have and the have nots. The reason for this is because there’s no such thing as a perfect world, and in order for there to be a cosmic balance something has to give. From 1948 to 1990 there were strict laws and regulations known as the apartheid within the country of South Africa. According to merriam webster the definition of apartheid is a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race. There were strict laws such as anti-miscegenation laws between white south africans and other races, segregation of children within the south african school system, constant oppression of black south africans, and more. One would think how would this country become this way, when the people enforcing the …show more content…
According to article from A and E history in 1976 thousands of children in a small town called Soweto demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for black African students, because of this police opened fire with bullets and tear gas (A+E Networks Digital, 2015). This caused a national uproar, and it opened the door for protestors of the apartheid to call out for their leader Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was civil rights activist who was convicted of conspiracy to overtake the government and was sentenced to 27 years (A+E Networks Digital, 2015), He had a very strong presence in the South Africa, and because of that it was what landed him behind bars for 27 years. Although Nelson Mandela was free 1990, his freedom at the age of 71 showed how much minority influence was controlling the government of South Africa. The people of South Africa pleaded for his freedom in 1976 and they had to wait 14 more years in order to have Nelson Mandela free. In the inspirational apartheid theme movie Sarafina, one of the characters is quoted saying to the children of Soweto "they fear you because you are young. They fear you because you are the future. How fearful they must be that they shoot you children. How powerful you must be that they fear you so much. You are powerful because you are the generation that will be free (Ngema, M. 1992, ) . This quote represents how even though the minorities were in charge, they were more fearful of a rebellion because they would no longer be in control. This shows how minority influence uses fear in order to be in control of the black people of South

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