McLendon & Malar 1

Tiandi McLendon & Emma Malar

Mrs. Smith
English 10 Honors
15 November 2016
Superiority
When a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? When atrocities happen, many people bear
witness but never make a sound. When the Apartheid in South Africa occurred, there was resistance, but
not everyone capable spoke out. By one person standing up against injustice, history can be changed.
The Apartheid that developed and sprouted could have have been avoided, and steps should be taken to
prevent future instances that are similar.
Throughout history, people have often felt that when a problem arises there must be someone
else to blame besides themselves. The Great Depression and World War II left the world in shambles.
Germany and the United States felt the largest effects of this utterly depressing time. Yet, most do not
realize that other countries were hurt in the process. South Africa felt increasing economic despair,
which caused the people to place all of their trust in the government. The people were vulnerable and the
government abused this to enforce harsh racial segregation policies (History). In times of distress, the
best scapegoats are the groups of people that stick out in a society, the minorities. Although in South
Africa there was a prosperous colored population, worldwide those who are colored create a minority.
Segregation and Apartheid go hand in hand. Apartheid translates to apartness (Koosman 13).
Apartheid took racial segregation to a higher level. It separated those who are colored from those who
were white, but it did not stop there. Apartheid divided South Africans into four categories: white, Bantu

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(black), colored or those of mixed descent and Asian (Apartheid). Apartheid was not just a conflict of
black or white, it involved supremacy of all races and ethnicities. The bias and prejudice ideas of the
prime architects of the Apartheid caused many racial tensions bringing about violence.
Naturally, many people will follow someone who demonstrates authority. In times of anguish,
individuals tend to put their trust in leaders. Blindly following a leader is perhaps the most dangerous
element of a society. During apartheid, Jan Smuts was the prime minister. Prime Minister Smuts
strongly supported residential segregation amongst black and whites (Apartheid). The Prime Minister
held a large amount of pull and power over the people, during this time. In fact the prime minister is to
Africa as the president is to the United States. If individuals blindly put their trust in a leader, they will
fully support anything the leader says. In publicly supporting segregation, Smuts caused a wave of
people to be blinded until they no longer realized the injustice of his acts and did not resist. Separating
black South Africans from each other enabled the government to claim there was no black majority, and
reduced the possibility that blacks would unify into one nationalist organization (History). Even with
the trust of the citizens, Smuts and others needed to ensure that the majority of the people would not
have the ability to rise up against the government. Therefore, they divided up the people making them a
weak defense force, if they were to fight back. The people were no longer a united front and instead
could not prevent what would come.
As time goes on situations can get better or worse. For apartheid it was full speed ahead, but not
in the right direction. Thousands of Africans were uprooted and moved into racially segregated
neighborhoods in cities or to reserves which by the 1970s would be called homelands (Evans). Just like
in the Holocaust, the imperfect people were moved from their homes and pushed into areas with
people just like them. The South Africans were punished for something that was out of their control.

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They were punished for being born the way they were. Not losing hope throughout their situation led to
few people resisting. The people hoped for better situations and instead were met with the opposite. In
1971, the Citizenship act declared that all black South Africans were no longer a part of the South
African citizenship but instead belonged to their own Homeland (Apartheid). Already, South Africa was
shredding the rights of innocent people just because they were black. Once you take away a persons
rights, you take away their citizenship. Majority of the people were not pleased with this new act and
had rather harsh feelings toward it.
As human beings, it is second nature to have opposition to certain conflicts, but it is human duty
to use this dissent and stand up for what is wrong. In South Africa during the Apartheid, many groups
arose and began to oppose the rules and regulations that were placed on the country. Nelson Mandela,
Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, and Albert Luthuli started and led the the African National Congress
(ANC). Their goal was to urge nonviolent protests, strikes and boycotts (Apartheid). They were one of
the main groups to oppose the Apartheid, but were not the only. In fact another group branched off from
the ANC and created the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1958 (Evans). They broke away because
they felt that the ANC did not hold the same beliefs. Since the African National Congress did not
believe that anyone who acted or lived as a black could join the organization created the Pan
Africanist Congress. Also in the PACs opinion ANC was allowing too much of the cruel oppression to
be passed by unnoticed (OMalley). Eventually the government realized the actions of the groups and
forced them underground (Evans). The government's actions caused them to start violent acts of
resistance. Opposition took many different forms from protest to armed resistance, but despite their
efforts, the laws stayed in effect for more than 50 years. Even through their failure, they did not give up
hope and continued to fight for their liberation.

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Every decision that is made has an upside and a downside. It may be possible to argue that the
Apartheid did not have an upside. The ruthless ideas of D.F. Malan, the prime creator of the Apartheid
in 1948, caused families to be split (Evans). This was often the case when the race of the parents was
different from each other causing the children to have a different race then the parents (History). The
country was split into homelands created by the Bantu (black) Self-government. Each homeland was
for a different ethnic community, and often these areas of land were overcrowded, and desolate without
any facilities (Apartheid). Along with these conditions, no one was allowed to travel from their
homeland to another. This lead to not only the separation of families but the death of many people
because of the lack of facilities due to the Homelands.
E Pluribus Unum, out of many one. The motto of the United States of America. Out of many
one out of the millions and billions of people, just one person can make a difference. Just one person
allowing corruption or But what does it matter? Why learn about an unthinkable event, that could never
happen again? But it did happen, the impossible happened. Not only once did this happen but again and
again, people let it happen, The Apartheid and the Rwandan genocide all took place after events similar
to it occurred. Injustice is a part of life. There is no way to prevent it because not everyone will stand up
and let their voices be heard. The freedom of speech is a right in the United States, while in some places
it is a luxury only few can grasp. Speak up and speak out!

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Works Cited
"Apartheid." Britanica School, Encyclopdia Britanica, 3 Jun.
2015.school.eb.com/levels/high/article/7978. Accessed 14 Nov. 2016.
Evans, Marissa K. "Aparthied." Black Past,
www.blackpast.org/gah/apartheid-1948-1994. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016.
Koosman, Melissa. The Fall of Apartheid in South Africa. Hockessin, Del., Mitchell
Lane, 2010.
History.com Staff. "Apartheid." History.com, A+E Networks, 2010,
www.history.com/topics/apartheid.
O'Malley, Padraig. "Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)." O'Malley The Heart of Hope, 2010,
www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02730/05lv031
88/06lv03214.htm#.