I knew the word apartheid. Well, I had seen it. Turns out I didn\u2019t know how to pronounce it properly. And that probably is a good illustration for how much I actually knew about apartheid. Going into this study, mostly na\u00efve, I knew of Nelson Mandela, but only in the type of sense, I know of Gandhi. I had a few highlights, but I did really know much detail, and I had no idea of how the struggle was so much bigger than can be captured in one person, even someone as a monumental as Nelson Mandela. I had no idea of all the works of the ANC nor did I know anything about FW De Klerk, who was arguably the catalyst that catapulted the ending of apartheid years ahead and possibly averted a massive and potentially bloody revolution.<\/p>\n
Becoming aware of what happened leading up to, and during apartheid was absolutely shocking to me. It was unbelievable that something like that could have happened. I understand individuals being cruel, and groups of people abusing power, but never I had seen or heard of something that institutionalized prejudice on every level of society. On some level, racial wars and violence make more sense than apartheid. These wars and fights you explain much of it away by calling it senseless mob mentality and uncontrolled and uncivilized raged. But with apartheid, it was racism \u201cperfected\u201d on a massive institutional level.\u00a0What was most disturbing though was how forthright the \u201celite\u201d white class was about their message of white\/European superiority. The quote that perhaps best captures might be from JG Strijdom who was the Prime Minister of SA in the 1950’s. Strijdom said, “in every sphere, the European must be master, the European must retain the right to rule the country and to keep it a white man’s country”.<\/a>[1]<\/a> This outspoken and unashamed oppression physically hurt my stomach to read. In the USA, I don\u2019t believe we have any comparison to this. Our racism tended to be more hidden and subversive, but no one of great power would come out as say things such as this. This is ironic because slavery officially ended 31 years earlier in South Africa (1834) than it did in the USA (1865).<\/p>\n One aspect I have gained a greater understanding of by learning about apartheid is how an inferiority projected onto a certain type of people can have such a powerful and subconscious impact on their entire mindset. I\u2019m reminded of a story from Nelson Mandela from when he was a wanted man in South Africa, discreetly traveling to other African countries trying to raise support for the ANC to bring freedom and equality. Mandela recalls calmly sitting on an airplane while getting ready for take off, while all the sudden a black pilot step into the airplane and walks straight into the cockpit. Mandela, who had never seen a black pilot before, thought to himself in a moment of panic \u201ca black man can\u2019t fly a plane!\u201d And then in the next moment, he snapped out of it, realizing that he had himself, one of the leaders of the freedom fighters of South Africa, had succumbed to the inferiority mindset that had been prescribed to him since he was a young child.<\/a>[2]<\/a> Mandela writes in his autobiography that his initial reaction to this experience had shocked him and revealed to him how deep some of these cruel messages and lies had been set into his paradigm.<\/p>\n My biggest takeaway from learning the details of the rise and fall of Apartheid is that I\u2019m glad I was not of adult age when these events were occurring so I could not be counted among those who did nothing. Of course, where are the other social and human rights atrocities taking place today? Am I involved in the stopping of these? There are obviously many things happening around the world, and the honest answer would be I don’t even feel I’m aware of what’s happening! And so I’m plagued by the question, what issue will those who live fifty years from now look back at us and say, “how could they have done nothing?”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To end this post, I\u2019d like to share a joke and yet at the same time an important commentary on what apartheid did to the social framework to all colors in South Africa. Trevor Noah, the current host of The Tonight Show on Comedy Central, shares about a time he and his grandfather were walking together and passed a white police officer sitting on his horse, the very week after a picture of the South African president had been on the of major newspapers kissing a champion winning race horse.<\/p>\n His grandfather asked,<\/p>\n \u201cMaster! I just need to ask you one question. Why is it that your president can kiss a horse, but he won\u2019t kiss my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n The police officer shouted back, \u201cI don\u2019t know why not!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you haven\u2019t seen my sister!\u201d<\/p>\n Trevor Noah said that was the first time he had ever seen a white and black man laugh together.<\/a>[3]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bibliography<\/u><\/p>\n Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela<\/em>. Paw Prints, 2014.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Noah, Trevor, and Jerry Seinfeld. “Trevor Noah – That’s the Whole Point of Apartheid, Jerry – Episode – Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee by Jerry Seinfeld.” Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. 2015. Accessed September 11, 2017. http:\/\/comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com\/trevor-noah-thats-the-whole-point-of-apartheid-jerry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Welsh, David. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid<\/em>. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a>[1]<\/a> David Welsh,\u00a0The Rise and Fall of Apartheid<\/em>\u00a0(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009), 24.<\/p>\n <\/a>[2]<\/a> Nelson Mandela,\u00a0Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela<\/em>(Paw Prints, 2014).<\/p>\n <\/a>[3]<\/a> Trevor Noah and Jerry Seinfeld, “Trevor Noah – That’s the Whole Point of Apartheid, Jerry – Episode – Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee by Jerry Seinfeld,” Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, 2015, accessed September 11, 2017, http:\/\/comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com\/trevor-noah-thats-the-whole-point-of-apartheid-jerry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I knew the word apartheid. Well, I had seen it. Turns out I didn\u2019t know how to pronounce it properly. And that probably is a good illustration for how much I actually knew about apartheid. 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