Today we visited the township of Soweto which is situated about 15-20
minutes outside of Johannesburg. Soweto is actually an acronym that stands for
“South Western Township”. We started our day by meeting our tour guide Big Ben
who met us at our hotel and rode on our bus to Soweto. The first stop we made
today was at the entrance sign to the city where we took a group a picture and
learned about what Soweto stands for. We then got back on the bus and entered
the township and headed to Walter Sisulu Square. We learned about how the
square symbolizes freedom and democracy and it is where the famous Freedom
Charter was adopted in 1955. In the center of the square lies a monument tower
where on the inside there lies the 10 core principles of the Freedom Charter inscribed
in the stone. After our tour of the Sisulu square we headed toward the Hector
Pieterson museum where we had a self-guided tour of the museum.
The museum was created to honor the life of Hector Pieterson and his fellow students who were killed in the Soweto uprisings as well as to explain the lead up and reasoning for theminutes outside of Johannesburg. Soweto is actually an acronym that stands for
“South Western Township”. We started our day by meeting our tour guide Big Ben
who met us at our hotel and rode on our bus to Soweto. The first stop we made
today was at the entrance sign to the city where we took a group a picture and
learned about what Soweto stands for. We then got back on the bus and entered
the township and headed to Walter Sisulu Square. We learned about how the
square symbolizes freedom and democracy and it is where the famous Freedom
Charter was adopted in 1955. In the center of the square lies a monument tower
where on the inside there lies the 10 core principles of the Freedom Charter inscribed
in the stone. After our tour of the Sisulu square we headed toward the Hector
Pieterson museum where we had a self-guided tour of the museum.
march against the Bantu education system. In 1953 the Bantu Education act was
passed by the apartheid government in South Africa. Part of this education act
mandated that all high schools must use a 50-50 mix of English and Afrikaans in
instruction. Many of the students in Soweto were followers of Steve Biko and
his Black Consciousness movement. The Black Consciousness movement sought to
achieve a unique black identity in South Africa and the Bantu Education act was
standing in the way. In 1976 a group of students formed an action committee
that created a plan to lead a massive march on June 16, 1976. On June 16th
between 10,000 to 20,000 students marched through the street of Soweto to
Orlando Stadium where they planned to occupy the stadium. During the march the
mass of students ran into a police force that set first used tear gas against
the student and also used police dogs. When the students killed a police dog is
when the police started opening fire on the students. The students scattered as
shots rang out and it is estimated that around 170 students were killed. The
apartheid regime originally only reported that 23 students died that fateful
day. One of the first students killed was Hector Pieterson.
Hector Pieterson was a 12 year old student living in Soweto. As stated above Hector was one of thefirst students killed in the uprisings. There is an infamous photo of that
horrific day of Hector’s dead body being carried by one of his fellow students
with Hector’s sister at the student’s side in sheer panic. The picture was
taken by a photographer by the name of Sam Nzima and it was published across
the globe. This photo created a ton of talk across the world about what was
going on in apartheid South Africa. The photo incited a lot of rage across the
world and the rest of the world condemned the South African apartheid
government. With the world outraged, the apartheid regime started to fall.
Hector Pieterson was an innocent unarmed 12 year old child that was killed fighting for rights that he and the rest of peers deserved. The picture taken of Hector created an uproar
in the international community against the apartheid regime. But in order to
incite change do we need to sacrifice lives? I decided to title my post “How an
Individual Life Can Change Society” because Hector’s sacrifice incited change
to occur in South Africa. Across the world we have seen other instances of
change occurring due to the death of an individual. But is that the only way
change can occur? Because society should not have to suffer to incite change.
As we wait for society to start creating necessary changes in a non-violent
manner I think every individual needs to ask themselves what they are willing
to give up to incite change?