The Apartheid Of South Africa Essay

Racism, discrimination and degradation faced by Blacks and other ethnic minorities under the apartheid system was not unlike the segregation and intimidation faced by African-Americans in the Jim Crow south. Jim Crow system of segregation that kept Blacks from fully participating in public and civic activities and relegated African-Americans to substandard conditions at work, school and even in the home. Blacks in South Africa were under the clutches of an overt, national policy of racism and segregation implemented by the country’s highest level of government. Civil and human rights abuses of Blacks in South Africa at the hand of the country’s white minority occurred long before apartheid officially began, but the system’s official start brought strict, sweeping laws such as the rule that all persons in South Africa to be categorized as white, Black, colored and Indian, without exception. Like in the U.S. during Jim Crow, Blacks and whites were not allowed to marry and sexual relations between members of different races was a criminal offense.

Apartheid “denied blacks national citizenship, ownership of land, and any voice in the nation’s government” (Macionis 256). The policy of apartheid is a racial caste system designed to keep the white minority leaders in power while oppressing the black majority as well as people of mixed-race and Asian descent. As a result of the apartheid, blacks were much poorer than whites, they could not receive jobs that paid well and also had less schooling than their white counterparts. Living under these conditions made it nearly impossible for blacks to move up in the world. Furthermore, if anyone resisted the apartheid rule, they would suffer great (often violent) consequences. But the consistency of resistance led to change and by the “mid-1980s…the South African government granted limited political rights to people of mixed race and Asian ancestry” (Macionis 256). One of the major leaders against apartheid was Nelson

Apartheid originated as colonization came to an end in South Africa, in the hope of entirely segregating the nation. Under Apartheid, the rights of the majority black inhabitants were curtailed and the white minority rule was strengthened and put into action. Enforced through legislation by the National Party from 1948 to 1994, 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighborhoods, in one of the largest mass removals in modern history (Evans). The purpose of Apartheid was not only the separation of the races, but the separation of groups. White domination wanted to maintain power and did so through the enforcement of racist laws involving unequal social order (Apartheid). Apartheid forced South Africans into

Define the term “apartheid”, briefly discuss its historical context and the social/political rules and effects of this system in South Africa?

The national party achieved power in South Africa in 1948 the government, usually comprised on “white people”, and racially segregated the country by a policy under the Apartheid legislation system. With this new policy in place the black South African people were forced to live segregated from the white people and use separate public facilities. There were many attempts to overthrow the Apartheid regime, it persisted to control for almost 50 years.

(BAC, AWP) Apartheid fed off the mistrust that was sown with the divide and conquer strategy and in South Africa, “everyone [thought] everyone else is the police.” (BAC, 25) The genius of apartheid is that it “convinced the overwhelming majority to turn on each other … [and] each [tribe] blamed the other for a problem neither had created.” (BAC, GOA) Apartheid takes the division one step further by incorporating race promotions and demotions. The immorality act was put in place and plays a huge role in Apartheid because “Race-mixing [is] a crime worse than treason.” (BAC, 21) Race mixing is outlawed because “it reveals the system as unsustainable and incoherent.” (BAC, 21) Apartheid allowed people to be colored, but not mixed, then it took advantage of colored people through the use of categorization. In the Apartheid system “Colored people… were second class citizens, denied the rights of white people but given special privileges that black people didn’t have” (BAC, 118) The terrifying beauty of Apartheid is that colored people didn’t have to stay second class citizens, black people didn’t have to stay third class citizens, and white people didn’t have to stay first class citizens. Promotions based on the whim of a clerk were common and the fear of losing status kept people in line. (BAC, 119) The entire system convinces “every group that it was because of the other race that they didn’t get into the club.” (BAC, 120) Apartheid creates a power vacuum when it falls, causing “black South Africa [to go to] war with itself.” (BAC,

The term "apartheid" was one of the most politically charged words in the second half of the 20th century, and still remains notorious today. Apartheid translated from Afrikaans means "separateness" or "apartness". However when the National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948, it took on a much more sinister meaning and today is associated with racial and ethnic discrimination. The roots of apartheid stem deep into South African history. It started way back during European settlement, and was enforced and maintained right up until the end of the 20th Century. It will forever leave a mark on South Africa and indeed the world; a dark period in human history from which we have and will continue to learn.

apartheid – system of radical segregation practice in the Republic of South Africa until the 1990s, which involved political, legal, and economic discrimination against non-whites

During the 18th Century, Dutch settlers came to live in South Africa. Their descendants called the Boers identified themselves as Africans and fought against the British who tried to colonize South Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. After living there for so long, they created a stable economic system and government, in which white Africans were to top 1% and the black Africans, who made up the majority of the population, were much poorer. In 1948, the National Party instated something called Apartheid. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation, in which black Africans’ rights were controlled by the Boers. In

Apartheid, a set of laws separating races in South Africa, ended in 1994 after almost 50 years of existing. The laws segregated the powerful whites, “Coloreds”, Indians, and blacks. Though whites were the minority, they owned most land, power, and money and ran the government. The story “Out Of Bounds” by Beverley Naidoo explains what life was like for non-whites in South Africa in the year 2000, six years after apartheid was abolished. An Indian boy named Rohan becomes friends with a black squatter boy named Solani, even though Rohan is higher up on the social scale. Although anti-apartheid laws passed, nothing got better for non-whites in South Africa like Solani and his family. Bias, education, and medical care did not improve for these people.

The government of South Africa played a huge role in apartheid. During apartheid the government of South Africa worked to take away the citizenship of the Blacks with the laws (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). “Social rights, political rights, educational opportunities, and economic status were all determined by the group a person belonged to” (History of South Africa in the apartheid era). Black people were denied by the government the option of appealing courts against forced removals (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Since the government had established laws prohibiting social contact between the races separate schools and public places were set up for the different races (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). The government even tried to segregate churches in 1957 but failed (Pascoe, 80)

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

The population of South Africa were segregated into categouries of Coloured, Black, White and Indian. Black South African lives were affected in many different ways and it still is today. Apartheid meant great hardship, it meant that Black people were unable to live a reasonable life. All natural civil rights were taken away from them. Public beaches, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks and public toilets are just a few things that were racially segregated. You can say that the church was on of few places races could mix without breaking the law. (Wikipedia, 2013)

The Role of Apartheid in South Africa Soweto Riots in South Africa. This explains how Apartheid was responsible for starting the Rioting and how even after they tried to stop the Riots they were unsuccessful. The Soweto riots of 1976 were the most brutal and violent riots that had taken place against the South African apartheid administration. It was also amazing in how far and how fast it spread.

Apartheid was a system which segregated and oppressed the non-whites. White people where superior than any other race. People were treated according to their racial group. This affected black communities, they lived under harsh conditions and in fear. Even though black South Africans were segregated by this system and lived in their own communities, on their own, as In Sindisiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother. Black South Africans still experienced lawless violence, forced removals, discrimination and government brutality in their communities.