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Social Sin Invictus

Decent Essays

Invictus is a movie based on the real life story of how Nelson Mandela united the country of South Africa through the sport of rugby. To give some background, before Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa (which made his presidency very historic), he had been a prisoner on Robben Island for almost 30 years while South Africa was under the cruel regime of Apartheid. Apartheid was introduced in 1948 by the white National Party government to make segregation between whites and blacks legal. The non-white majority of the population was forced to live in separate areas and used separate facilities. Contact between whites and non-whites was very restricted. Marriage between races was banned by the government. Blacks were …show more content…

Social sin resides within an entire community (in this case, an entire country) of people. Social sin causes the oppression of human beings, violates human dignity, represses freedom or imposes great inequity. Social sin results in structures, laws or policies that cause widespread poverty, inequality, discrimination, violence and other injustices and allows them to continue. An example in North America would be the system of slavery that existed in the American south. The non-white population of South Africa had no means to make a life for themselves. They lost their right to vote, lost basic access to education, and even when they were allowed to move to cities, they were only allowed to work at low skill or factory jobs. This type of situation should make all people of all races cry out for justice because of how wrong it is. In order to solve social sin in society, we have to find a way to step outside your position of privilege and find a way to empathize or relate to the people who social sin is affecting. Once you have empathy, you have to take steps to make changes. It is not acceptable to be passive or just make excuses for the way …show more content…

de Klerk. When Mandela was elected president, he inherited a country that was still pretty fresh out of 50 years of Apartheid rule. Attitudes by whites and blacks don't change overnight just because there is a new president. There was huge racial tensions and rampant poverty to deal with. Crime rates were also high. Mandela was very concerned about violence erupting between whites and non-whites. Rather than live with bitterness and resentment over his imprisonment and the terrible treatment of the black population, Mandela chose the route of forgiveness and looked for a way to bring the country back together. Sport can be enjoyed by all parts of the population whether rich or poor, black or white, educated or not. When Mandela publicly supported the mostly white Springbok rugby team, as a black president, he was leading by example. What he did was completely unexpected both in the eyes of whites and non-whites. He gained the trust of whites and helped blacks see that the only way to move forward in a positive way was to forgive the sins of the past and work for reconciliation. When the black President came out on the field for the World Cup final wearing the Springbok jersey in front of a mostly white crowd (and in front of the world via TV) he put South Africa on a journey that would change the country forever. He demonstrated that

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