Seperate, and Never Equal

"In 1953 the Apartheid Government enacted The Bantu Education Act, which established a Black Education Department in the Department of Native Affairs. The role of this department was to compile a curriculum that suited the "nature and requirements of the black people." The author of the legislation, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (then Minister of Native Affairs, later Prime Minister), stated: "Natives [blacks] must be taught from an early age that equality with Europeans [whites] is not for them." Black people were not to receive an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they wouldn't be allowed to hold in society. Instead they were to receive education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in laboring jobs under whites."

I can not imagine being told that I will never be equal to someone because of the color of my skin, my place of birth, my nationality, my age, my gender, etc. Because of the color of skin, an entire generation of hopes and dreams was lost. An entire generation of innovation and new ideas was thrown away.

In order for me to understand the present, I first must understand the past. As I learn more about the South African people and their history, I am slowly beginning to understand that successes which, to me, seem like setbacks, are actually accomplishments years in the making.

Hamba Kahle,

Jen