There is a lot of racism in this world which causes conflict and even war. Also take South Africa for an example which was colonized by the british and the dutch. The english and dutch government introduced apartheid(racial segregation), and treated the whites as more superior than the blacks. Everyone at that time tried to separate the blacks from the whites. Nelson Mandela, an ordinary black South African was a man who fought for his rights and his people’s rights. One day, he joined an anti-apartheid group. This group was called ANC (African National Congress). But the government did not approve and Mandela was put in jail for his actions.
Racial segregation in South-Africa was a big problem. Racial segregation was when the blacks were separated from the whites because of the different skin colors. Later, the South-African government divided the people into three races which was later called apartheid. Apartheid was unfair treatment of the different people other than whites. Some examples are that the children were separated from school and that there was separate stores for blacks and whites. The blacks were not allowed to have the right to sit in the front of the bus. This treatment was unfair because they were just like any of us just being controlled around because of their skin color. The black people were contributing in the country as much as the white people but still the black people were not allowed to be part of being in charge or being allowed to make any rules. Making decisions, they just had to accept what the white man told them. The black people outnumbered the white people in South-Africa by many times but still they had no rights. The black tried many different ways in the system to get equal rights but had little success against the strong white government until the ANC group was created. ANC was a big group of black people who wanted to make a change in their country by going against apartheid. They were given a lot of support from the black community and in this way, the black people became much more powerful standing together instead of being alone. One of the leaders ANC was Mandela. Luckily, ANC was given internasional support by many countries. In that way, ANC could put more pressure on the white government for their equal right with backing and support from many other countries.
Before Mandela’s long imprisonment, he was put in prison for five years for leading workers to strike and to illegally leave South-Africa. While Mandela was in prison, the leaders of ANC were arrested. Mandela was put on the Rivonia trial. The Rivonia trial was when the ten leaders of ANC were guilty for doing 221 crimes of sabotage. Nelson Mandela was one of the leaders. He was charged with 27 years imprisonment because he was guilty of treason and he had done crimes of sabotage. Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island.
In 1990, Mandela was released from Robben Island. Anti-apartheid groups and ANC were not banned from South-Africa anymore. This was declared by State President F. W. de Klerk. These news were broadcasted around the whole world. On the same day, Mandela had created a speech. He said that he would make peace with South-Africa’s white minority. When Mandela did this, he created peace with the black and white people and he made it possible for the black people to vote for the elections as well.
So the question is, was this really worth fighting for? Yes. This was something definitely worth fighting for. The reason why is because South-Africa has earned their equal rights and the people are equally valued. Now, they are not separated from the whites and they now live in peace with each other. This is what ANC and Mandela accomplished. This did not only change South-Africa but also the whole world and their new understanding of what racism really is and how cruel it is. All Mandela did to accomplish this was by sticking with what he was believing in and by fighting for his rights.
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