Apartheid

The Civil War was the biggest battle fought on American soil, and it was against us. That war was about freeing black slaves, but in the process of their freedom, something worse happened than being slaves, and it was segregation. After the civil war, something called Apartheid was going on in South Africa, it is also segregation, but it is sort of on a higher level of segregation. Apartheid in South Africa was primarily started for three reasons to keep blacks at a lower level than whites, so as for the whites to keep control of the country.

During the start of the apartheid, the people that were in control of the government and country were white males. These men made it clear, that they did not want blacks near whites, and to make this happen they did a few things. Something that the men did, was segregate schools, doing that makes it harder for everyone to have the same education, and even harder to have a good job and move up in the ranks to change the government to make it more fair for all. Also, they segregated restaurants, bathrooms, beaches, and movie theaters. It was done, to make it seem as if blacks were inferior to whites and that they shouldn’t get or deserve anything that the whites do, and it worked for a while.

Later on, some peace driven people, such as Nelson Mandela, took to the approach of reaching higher within the South African government, in an effort to make life equal for all. In the process, he was put into jail, and likely had many threats against his life. For years, many people fought back in peace, while some others took to fighting against the racism. Sadly, almost all of the violence came from whites fighting against protesters.

To fight back, the whites had some restrictions put on blacks, they could not be within the city around the fall of night. The living conditions for blacks, was a small hut, crammed together with a community of other small huts. Plus, it was almost impossible for blacks to travel out of the city, without any sort of permission pass or cards. But, education was one of the main areas in which whites targeted. The task was simple and clear, mess with the knowledge system, and one can control, for knowledge is power. By attacking the blacks learning centers and segregating them, it made it harder for blacks to gain high knowledge as they progressed on into later grades.

The Apartheid in South Africa and the aftermath of the Civil War in the U.S. both were similar in the segregation that occurred to blacks. Although, some of the segregation and discrimination of blacks was more cruel and unusual, the people of South Africa have had to deal with it much longer, and still do. South Africans are working on living a more peaceful and united country, rather than segregating thy fellow brother.