So what was Apartheid in South-Africa?
Its been almost 26since Apartheid ended in South-Africa. But what was it? And what ripple effect did it cause in South-Africans of Colours lives?
What was Apartheid?
Well to make a long story short Apartheid was a time in South-Africa where whites , blacks , colourds basically all races that inhabited South-Africa had to live in separate locations , attend separate schools and basically live in segregation and the Apartheid system benefited the white South-Africans as areas that where inhabited by people of colour where forcefully taken from them so that new areas could be brought up for white people or for business like what happened in Sophia Town and even though black South-Africans where the majority of the country they received less of the land than the white minority. The Apartheid government even had its own flag which is our equivalent of the confederate flag as they both are symbols of a government/group that tried to racially segregate humans.
Apartheid was a messy affair in South-Africa back then because of the blatant racism imposed by the Apartheid system. Till this day me as a 21-year-old cannot understand how the world could not have done something earlier to end Apartheid in South-Africa. This was a system that started in 1948 and continued up until 1994 and ended in 1994 and the first democratic election was held in the country in 1995….THE FIRST!! So South-Africa technically did not have any freedom for people of colour since the British came.
What long term effect did Apartheid have on people of colours lives in South-Africa
In my personal opinion one of the most valuable things apartheid took away from people of colour was their education. This was due too the fact that black people had to go too the poorest schools and be taught in a language that most of them did not understand. This caused a lot of violent protests and the famous Soweto uprising in which an estimated 20 000 school learners took part in but sadly most of them where injured or killed by the police. This day is summarized in the powerful picture of Hector Petersons lifeless body being carried away.
By depriving black people back then of education the Apartheid government caused that most people of colour could only do small part time jobs because they did not have the higher qualifications due to the fact that most of them received poor education and could not finish school. This caused that the newer born free generation as we call them( People born after 1994) to be raised in poverty and with less opportunity's because of their living situations. This means basically that the youth are the ones that can save their parents and elderly from their poor lifestyle as the education system post apartheid are much better then pre Apartheid for people of colour.
Is everyone in South-Africa living in equality now?
Well this deserves a article of its own because one paragraph cannot and will not fully cover it.
