Apartheid (1)

After one day of watching video:

So from my understanding and without much education on this subject, the Apartheid laws were a set of laws that black africans and white africans could not live together. It was a system of racial segregation by the National Party in africa, but it was more than segregation and a controversy, it was a legal set of laws that were in affect from nearly 1950-1994. The Apartheid was a time of political, economical, and racial discrimination in South Africa. South Africa is a place divided into 9 provinces, and it is a diverse place containing people of all ethnicities and origins. South Africa is a country where over 10 languages are spoken and 80 % of the population is black. South Africa is at the very tip of Africa, and an important man by the name of Nelson Mandela basically represents South Africa today.

Furthermore, the movie we are watching reflects the Apartheid in South Africa and how that actually looked in society. It was interesting, rather disturbing how the main african black man could only be in a room with one person at a time. One scene stood out to me where he was at the doctor and his wife came and said that she needed money form the cash box so the doctor stepped out of the room and his wife stepped in. This happened to him because he was banned from speaking out about the Apartheid, but people like him are the ones who make a difference. He knew the entire government, and additional people were completely against him, however that did not stop him from speaking out. He put his needs behind those of his people by serving as a voice of those who felt like he did but were not as strong or brave. At the football/soccer game he spoke up and demanded change in front of hundreds of people. It was inspiring and intriguing to see how the Apartheid laws digested in people differently. Some people took it as a way to gain power or just hate even more, and some realized how inhumane it was, and knew it could not last. The main guy in this movie so far reminds me of MLK Jr. who spoke up as a minority for his people, and would not let things get to him. The whole idea of someone stepping out (the doctor) and then someone stepping in (his wife) was like a metaphor for the story of that mans life during the Apartheid in South Africa. When he did something good for the benefit of his people, he always had the drag and degrading feeling that the government was against him and he was banned. In other words whenever something good happened or someone stepped near him, he could unfortunately rely that something negative would come along as well, and someone would step away- nothing was ever completely balanced or perfect. These hateful and victimizing laws were so disturbing, and the movie does a realistic but touching way of showing them.