Apartheid Has Ended, Racism Has Not

Racial discrepancies have not ceased over the course of history, but are indubitably showing signs of eventual termination. While the people of South Africa are without question still struggling for more superlative equality, the worst of the abhorrent lack of equilibrium has most likely passed. The unjust laws have been abolished, and the government has been altered to fit a united group of human beings rather than separate classes, but racism is a quality from inside a person that cannot be extinguished by any laws or restrictions.

During this measure of time in history there were several laws put into play that undermined the very rights of citizens with ancestry of a race other than white. White was thought to be the superior race, even in a land lived on and cared for by blacks for many years. One of the laws passed was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949. This law obstructed blacks and whites from intermarrying. Any attempt to do so became invalidated by the interpretation of the government.

Another law was the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, Act No 49 of 1953. Eliminating the right for people of separate racial backgrounds to use the same facilities, this law was possibly the most blatant display of discrimination to so far grace the chaotic country. The goal of this law was to minimize if not annihilate any mode of association between Europeans and people from any other form of decent. Segregation was required on a number of transport vehicles such as trains and buses and taxis. This resulted in a number of strikes and boycotts by the black people. The law also demanded separation in certain buildings and other such amenities. More often than not the “Non-European” version of the facility ...

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...age or his predecessors, that is their right and choice. But to take away from the experience of someone else in life is cruel, wrong, and emphatically inequitable. A person should have the right to get the best and make the most out of his or her earthly existence.

Though the events leading to the end of apartheid in South Africa caused the practice to be eliminated from the country’s system, to be racist is a more like a state of mind. While apartheid may officially have ceased, the prejudice of one race over another still resides in the hearts of many people, and that disconsolate fact shows no sign of ever changing.

Works Cited

http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-did-apartheid-end.htm

https://segue.atlas.uiuc.edu/index.php?action=site&site=mbuckle2

http://www.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/aama/