Week 5: Comparison of Apartheid and Slavery/Civil Rights

I didn't know much about Apartheid prior to this film.  In fact, I thought it was the same thing as our Civil Rights Movement, but after watching Selma, I guess I didn't know much about the Civil Rights Movement either.  I never realized how violent both of the movements were.  Apartheid was surprisingly violent, with police officers shooting people, many of which were children, and black people turning on one another.  Parts of the movie were very difficult for me to watch.  I don't understand how this went on for so long.  When we talked about the Civil Rights Movement in all of my schooling prior to this, we talked about Rosa Parks, MLK, and the desegregation of schools.  I've heard a few stories about KKK members being violent, but I had never seen how these police officers beat women, elderly, children simply for marching or assembling, and white people cheered them on as they did it.  Stuff like that just breaks my heart.  Similar to the blacks turning on one another in Apartheid, the whites in the Civil Rights Movement also began to turn on one another.  Both of these systems were in place to oppress black people so that white people remained superior and in power.  Fortunately, they no longer exist, and blacks now have a say in government because voting barriers have now been removed, but there is still work to be done.  This will prepare me for traveling to South Africa because I am not ignorant about the history of the country, and I have a better understanding of how recent all these atrocities occurred.

Week 4: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela

Both Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. attended universities and received degrees, so they were very educated men.  Nelson Mandela supported both peaceful and violent disobedience, whereas Martin Luther King, Jr. strictly promoted peaceful disobedience.  Both men served time in jail for holding firm to their beliefs, and both published writings while in jail.  Nelson Mandela, however, spent a much longer time in jail - 27 years.  Nelson Mandela was involved in many more of the political aspects including the ANC and PAC, and he ultimately become president, whereas, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a more religious figure due to his position as a pastor.  Lastly, both men were awarded the Noble Peace Prize for their involvement in civil rights.   

Nelson Mandela's quote, "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.  It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.  But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die," reminded me very much of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, specifically where he says, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."  Both are advocating for equal rights of all people, and both feel that their nations are not living up to their ideals.  Nelson Mandela says he will die for this cause.  Similarly, Martin Luther King, Jr. says there is no turning back, and he will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."  Neither man will be satisfied until there is equality in their nations.

Week 3: South Africa History & Current Events

I am surprised by how similar the history of the US and South Africa are.  I never knew about the townships in South Africa and how they are pretty much identical to our Native American reservations. Also, many of the events seemed to resemble our Civil Rights Movement in the US, but theirs just occurred many years later.  I am also shocked by the amount of diversity there.  I always thought it was just black and white, but the country is made up of Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, Swazi, Afrikaners, etc.  I think this is the country's greatest strength and weakness.  There is so much potential for greatness when people of all different cultures come together, however, reaching this greatness can be quite difficult, especially coming off the heels of apartheid.  It may take many more years until we start to see equality in South Africa.  Our Civil Rights Movement was over 50 years ago, and we still see injustice and inequality between races.  I was most interested reading about Africa's plans to empower women at the AU summit because I am very passionate about women's rights.  They specifically want to put an end to child marriages.  I'm glad to see that they are thinking of ways to help and protect women.

My question for Mr. Gilmour is: Since Apartheid has ended, is it still considered taboo to see black and white relationships, friendships, marriages, etc.?

Week 2: Privilege

I understand what Peggy McIntosh is explaining in her article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack."  A lot of them are things I have taken for granted like most movies, dolls, toys, etc. representing white people.  However, the problem I have with the term "white privilege" is I feel like it carries this negative connotation that all white people are completely ignorant when it comes to race, and all white people have easy, perfect lives because they are white.  This is not an accurate definition of the term "white privilege," but it is the same reason many women refuse to identify as a "feminist" because they think being a feminist means they hate men.  Then I started to think of the "Who Am I?" exercise we did and why I did not say I am white, and I realized it is for this very reason.  I feel like there is shame in being white in today's society.  Partially because of our history and partially because of this implication that because we are white we are ignorant to racial issues and we simply don't care because they don't affect us.  However, for me personally, this couldn't be further from the truth, but I often feel that people who don't know me tend to make that assumption about me.

The fact that was most interesting to me in the sorting people activity was "Colorblindness will not end racism."  I agree that we need to identify and remedy policies that advantage certain groups at the expense of others, but I feel we should do that because we are all humans, not just based on color, but based on the fact that we are all equal as humans.  Maybe this statement that it is ignorant to be colorblind is true for the time being, but I really believe within the next 20 to 50 years so many different races are going to mix together that it is going to be virtually impossible to even accurately guess someone's race based on looks alone. If this occurs on the scale that I believe it will, I feel like then we may truly live in a colorblind world.