Apartheid essays

Apartheid essays After researching apartheid I found many points relating to the matter. First of all, let me give a proper definition for apartheid. It is a policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa. It is an Afrikaans word meaning separateness. One main point that I received from my research was that the Afrikaner Nationalists believed that although South Africa was an undivided state, its people did not make up a complete state. This is an important point because it showed the basic philosophy of apartheid. There were thirteen different nations in South Africa. These included the Whites, Coloureds, Indians, and ten black African groups. They had done this because it was their observation that whenever people of different races, religions, or cultures came in contact with one another, friction would occur. So the solution they had to this problem was to create a society in which contact between races was avoided as much as possible. Without race contact there would be no race friction, therefore separation was the key to peace for all South Africans. So laws were created to make sure that members from different social groups did not socialize together, marry, sleep together, or share any public facilities. In my opinion, this twisted system could never work. It is one thing to separate different groups from one another to avoid problems, but it is another to use this method to purposely hold other groups down while elevating your own. This is exactly what the whites had done in South Africa. They refused to let any of the other groups receive any social, economic, or political power under the system of apartheid. They did this by any means necessary, especially force. I think that their main reason for implementing these rules under apartheid was because of their fears. The Afrikaners, who were the white Dutch settlers, were always ...