Apartheid

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Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning "separation" or "being apart", that is usually used to describe a policy that used to exist in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. This system was used to mistreat and deny rights to non-white people, under the pretense that they were being "segregated" or kept "apart". Under this system, blacks were not allowed to marry whites, or even to set foot in the white areas without special permission. They mostly had to stay in their own areas and fend for themselves, with little support from the white government, that they were not allowed to vote in. School subjects for Africans had to be taught in Afrikaans. Other countries and the United Nations condemned the South African government for these policies. After a long struggle where many protesters were killed in South Africa, the government, realizing it could not discriminate indefinitely against an overwhelming majority, ended apartheid in the year 1994, and soon after that, everyone was allowed to vote. Nelson Mandela stood up to this racist driven apartheid and became president eventually. Apartheid was a cruel code of laws that enabled the white minority to have total control over the black majority.

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