Racial Discrimination Of South Africa

1346 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History of apartheid

According to the Freedom Charter of 1955, all people [of South Africa] shall have the right to live where they choose, be decently housed, and to bring their families up in comfort and security. Attempting to follow in its footsteps, the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act of 1998 (abbreviated as the PIELA) aims to eradicate persistent post-Apartheid residential segregation by preventing the unlawful persecution of mostly black, impoverished renters and tenants who occupy land claimed by mostly white, wealthier landlords. Yet, upon examining its imperfect performance, one notes that it has failed to deliver on such a promise. Its sluggish redress of white-dominated land ownership makes such hopes for an egalitarian state where people of color live comfortably unrealistic. Socioeconomic, legal and statistical facts add to the racial discrimination that complicates this law’s enforcement of residential justice. Alone, the PIELA cannot counteract the white corporate, educational and financial complex of influence in South Africa. It is quantitatively and qualitatively difficult to defend so many marginalized people of color accused of outstanding debts by relatively powerful whites in court. Therefore, the PIELA law must join the just philosophies of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), public partnerships with microfinancial nonprofits and diversity training for judges, to effectively enable South Africans of color to avoid dependency on discriminatory corporate interests and inhabit affordable, comfortable homes. Reforming the PIELA with these policies will bring residential justice to South Africa.
One first must understand how the PIELA attempts to relieve racially unequal residential segregation ...

... middle of paper ...

... aiming to offer racial minorities, including South Africans of color, higher levels of socioeconomic agency and comfortable living standards. Nevertheless, black South Africans continue to experience the horrible hatred of yesteryear in the many instances of housing discrimination that have ensued post-Apartheid. Due to the flaws of the PIELA, the issue, therefore becomes a necessary choice for private and public sector leaders to make between alternative solutions to more effectively eradicate contemporary racism not specified in the PIELA. Although nonprofits such as NURCHA have run for only 20-odd years, they represent the most promising solution to the residential segregation that plagues the nation. Laws such as the PIELA alert us to social injustices, but, far too often, they do not extend beyond paper and require alternative social justice for positive change.

Show More
Related

  • Difference Between Political And Economic Disempowerment And Apartheid

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    History has experienced a distinct separation between the minorities (Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and African-Americans) and the majority (the whites) in the United States of America. This separation has been brought about by the several models of the exclusion of the minority; these two models are: political and economic disempowerment and apartheid (Forum 2, 1). Apartheid involves the separation of a certain group of people from other parts of the society through legal, political and economic discrimination (Denton 2). Whereas political and economic disempowerment is reducing drastically or taking away the rights previously held by a group, they are taken away to minimize the power of the minorities in the society. Apartheid

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Kerner Commission Report

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    As stated in the article, these three principles are: “mount programs on a scale equal to the dimension of the problem, aim these programs for high impact in the immediate future in order to close the gap between promise and performance and to undertake new initiatives and experiments that can change the system of failure and frustration that now dominates the ghetto and weakens our society.” Of course, no American can escape the consequences of the continuing decay of our county. However, the commission believed that is in the best interest of everyone that we work together to hackle this issue so we can come together as an unsegregated and nonviolent nation.

    Read More

  • The Case For Reparations By Ta-Neehisis Coates Analysis

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article, Coates maintains that social, economic, and political injustices against blacks have compounded over the years: “Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy.” He argues that even though slavery and segregation ended, these inequities have crippled many black communities and left them on an uneven playing field—only reparations can even this field.

    Read More

  • Poverty And Eviction In Evicted By Matthew Desmond

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Pulitzer prize-winning novel Evicted, sociologist Matthew Desmond follows eight families as he exposes how the lack of affordable housing perpetuates a state of poverty. He even goes so far as to assert that it is eviction that is a cause of poverty, not the other way around (Desmond 229). While this latter argument is as engrossing and it is striking, analyzing it with justice is simply not possible within the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, it is these two factors—inescapable poverty and eviction—that engender an unrelenting condition of financial, emotional, and communal instability, effectively hindering any chance of upward mobility.

    Read More

  • Summary: The Case For Reparations

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Case of Reparations written by Ta-Nehisi Coates describes the struggle of homeownership for African Americans, and discusses the need of reparations. The author explains the story of Clyde Ross, an African American from Mississippi who wanted to own a home in North Lawndale, Chicago. However, he was sucked into a system of having all the responsibilities of home ownership, but still had to pay rent, which means he did not actually own his home. Unfortunately, this happened to many African Americans in Chicago. The author’s purpose is to create awareness of why many African Americans do not own homes, the creation of all white or all black neighborhoods and the government’s involvement (Coates 2014).

    Read More

  • Residential Segregation and Social Justice

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite increased diversity across the country, America’s neighborhoods remain highly segregated along racial and ethnic lines. Residential segregation, particularly between African-Americans and whites, persists in metropolitan areas where minorities make up a large share of the population. This paper will examine residential segregation imposed upon African-Americans and the enormous costs it bears. Furthermore, the role of government will be discussed as having an important role in carrying out efforts towards residential desegregation. By developing an understanding of residential segregation and its destructive effects, parallels may be drawn between efforts aimed at combating such a grave societal problem and furthering social justice.

    Read More

  • Black and Minority Ethic Groups and the Justice System

    2189 Words  | 5 Pages

    Somerville, P., & Steele, A. (2002). 'Race', housing and social exclusion. London: Jessica Kinsglsy Publishers.

    Read More

  • Public Housing Discrimination Essay

    1829 Words  | 4 Pages

    In contrast to popular assumption, discrimination in public housing is becoming more prevalent than ever before. Testing done by the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston has found that today people of color are discriminated against in nearly half of their efforts to buy, sell, finance, or rent property (“1968-Present Housing Discrimination). The statistics are even worse when considering colored people who have families as the testing found that they are discriminated against approximately two thirds of the time (“1968-Present Housing Discrimination”) In addition to facing great difficulty in property affairs, people of color are less likely to be offered residence in desirable locations. 86 percent of revitalized

    Read More

  • Discrimination towards Minorities When Buying Home

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sidney, Mara S. 2003. Unfair Housing: How National Policy Shapes Community Action. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas.

    Read More

  • Residential Segregation Essay

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    From slavery to Jim Crow, the impact of racial discrimination has had a long lasting influence on the lives of African Americans. While inequality is by no means a new concept within the United States, the after effects have continued to have an unmatched impact on the racial disparities in society. Specifically, in the housing market, as residential segregation persists along racial and ethnic lines. Moreover, limiting the resources available to black communities such as homeownership, quality education, and wealth accumulation. Essentially leaving African Americans with an unequal access of resources and greatly affecting their ability to move upward in society due to being segregated in impoverished neighborhoods. Thus, residential segregation plays a significant role in

    Read More

  • “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol, the situation of racial segregation is refurbished with the author’s beliefs that minorities (i.e. African Americans or Hispanics) are being placed in poor conditions while the Caucasian majority is obtaining mi32 the funding. Given this, the author speaks out on a personal viewpoint, coupled with self-gathered statistics, to present a heartfelt argument that statistics give credibility to. Jonathan Kozol is asking for a change in this harmful isolation of students, which would incorporate more funding towards these underdeveloped schools. This calling is directed towards his audience of individuals who are interested in the topic of public education (seeing that this selection is from one of his many novels that focus on education) as well as an understanding of the “Brown v. Board of Education” (1954) case, which ties in to many aspects of the author’s essay. With the application of exemplum, statistics, and emotional appeals, Jonathan Kozol presents a well developed argument.

    Read More

  • Discrimination of Minorities in America

    928 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is hard to believe that after electing a minority president, the United States of America can still be seen as a vastly discriminatory society. A question was posed recently after a viewing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech of whether his dream has become a reality. After consideration, a majority of the viewers said no. Although many steps have been taken to improve racial equality in America, there is still no way to legislate tolerance. Dr. King’s message of equality for all has been lost in a black and white struggle over the taken meaning of his context. Until our society can allow all people to live in peace we will never truly achieve King’s dream. Case in point, referring to President Obama as our "our First Black President" should not be considered a statement of pride over how far we have come. Placing this racial qualifier, even in a positive light, only serves to point out his minority status, not the fact that he is the President of the United States. According to Dr. King's dream, a man or woman, black or white, would be viewed as President without qualifying their differences from mainstream America.

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination in the Workplace

    1557 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abstract- Racial discrimination happens all the time and most of us are unaware of it. The most common place for this to happen is in the workplace. Now people can be discriminated against because of their race, religion, or any other numerous things. Also, discrimination can occur during the job interview or even after you got the job. This paper will shoe the effects of racial discrimination and how it can be prevented. In addition there are some very important laws that deal specifically with discrimination, like the NAACP or Affirmative Action. These both will be discussed.

    Read More

  • The History of Apartheid in South Africa

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    South Africa is a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources including fertile farmlands and unique mineral resources. South African mines are world leaders in the production of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum. The climate is mild, reportedly resembling the San Francisco bay area weather more than anywhere in the world.

    Read More

  • South African Apartheid

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Apartheid consisted of a set of unequal laws that favored the whites (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). The Race Classification Act, which divided everyone into four race groups, whites, blacks, coloreds, and Indians were the first of many major laws (Evans, 8). Hundreds of thousands of black South Africans were forced to leave their homes and move into special reservations called “homelands” or Bantustans that were set up for them (Evans, 8). There were twenty-three million blacks and they were divided into nine tribal groups, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, North and South Sotho, Venda, Tsonga, Swansi, and South Ndebele, and each group were moved into a separate homeland (Evans, 8). Another major law was the Groups Area Act, which secluded the twenty-three million blacks to 14 percent of land, leaving 86 percent of the land for the 4.8 million (Evans, 9). Under apartheid laws a minority ...

    Read More

More about Racial Discrimination Of South Africa

Open Document