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.