U3 - Inequality
Introduction
This Unit is about the concept of inequality. Through the unit we are going to work on getting a good understanding of what inequality means, find examples of inequality, and study some literature and history that helps us understand the concept. Our main case study will be apartheid in South Africa, and we will read literature from this era, which will give us insight into how the apartheid system affected the lives of individuals and groups. We will also study the history of South Africa during apartheid, and enquire into how people fought for their right and for equality. A large section of this unit will be spent on reading and discussing the book Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. As the title indicates, his existence was the result of a crime during apartheid. His book is a humorous account of how it was for him to grow up in South Africa. The skills we will focus on during this unit are literary analysis, reading skills and oral communication.
The Concept of Inequality
In a lecture in honor of Nelson Mandela in 2020, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the following:
[The pandemic] is exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere:
The lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all;
The fiction that unpaid care work is not work;
The delusion that we live in a post-racist world;
The myth that we are all in the same boat.
Because while we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in superyachts while others are clinging to drifting debris.
Dear friends,
Inequality defines our time.
(Guterres, 2020)
U3 - Inequality 1/2
Part 1: Apartheid in South Africa
The apartheid era in South Africa is an example of extreme inequality, both in political rights, opportunities and freedom, as well as economic inequality. In Part 1 we are going to examine the history of this era, the nature and characteristics of the regime, the impact on people’s lives and how the protest movement within South Africa and also abroad eventually led to the dismantling of the system by 1994.
Colonialism
In order to understand the roots of Apartheid, we need to look back at the colonization that took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. After Christopher Columbus reached the islands off the American continent in 1492, a race started between European powers to gain new territories in the ‘New world’. The major colonial powers were Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain. While Spain and Portugal took control of much of South America, the British secured large parts of North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. This of course, happened at tremendous cost to the people who already lived there, and the native populations were dramatically reduced.
At this point in history, Europeans knew little about what the continent of Africa looked like beyond the coastline. However, South Africa was colonized early on, as it was an important stop on the trade route around the Cape to Asia. The first European settlement was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 (South African Government , n.d. ). However, the British officially made the country a colony in 1806.
From the very beginning of the European colonization in South Africa the local population was victim to suppression. Their way of life was severely disrupted, as the Europeans took control of their land, and as in America, the Europeans brought illnesses and weapons against which the South African native population had little restistance. There was great inequality in political and civil rights, and in economic opportunities between the Europeans and the African population, from the very beginning. However, in 1948, a party called the National Party came to power, and this party started the very systematic discriminatory regime that was called Apartheid.
Apartheid was deeply inequal and brutal. The system lasted from 1948 to approximately 1994, when Nelson Mandela became the first black President, democratically elected. The word apartheid comes from Afrikaans (a language very similar to Dutch) and means ‘apartness’. The ultimate goal of apartheid was the complete separation of the different population groups in South Africa, and this was to be achieved through systematic legislation which discriminated against Blacks and Colored, and through forced removal of large groups of the population. Below you can see a timeline of important legislation and important events during this period. Later on, we will see how attempts to protest against the system were carried out.
Apartheid Timeline
Click on the dropdown tab below to expand the timeline.
Apartheid, 1948 - 1994
The National Party wins the election, start of Apartheid
The election victory of the National Party marks the beginning of the apartheid era, as they initiated extensive new legislation discriminating non-white population groups, and policies that aimed at the eventual complete separation between different groups of the population.
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and Immorality Act
These laws made it illegal for whites and non-whites to marry and to have sexual relations.
The Population Registration Act
This law divided the population into Whites, Blacks, and Colored. There were tests to determine what category you belonged to. One such test was the infamous ‘pencil test’, where a pencil was inserted into the hair of a person. If the pencil did not fall out of the hair, you were not white.
Pass Laws Act
This law made it compulsory for all Blacks and Colored to carry a pass book, that had extensive information about the person’s address, family, employment history etc. If you were caught in a white area without your pass book, you would be arrested.
Bantu Education Act
Not only were schools to be separate, but the curricula of schools were also to be vastly different. Blacks were given very basic classes in reading, writing and numeracy, and were taught practical skills that prepared them for a future serving whites. Schools for blacks only received 1/7 of the funding that white schools were given.
The Sharpeville Massacre
The Sharpeville Massacre started as a peaceful protest against pass books outside a police station. The circumstances were somewhat unclear, but the police opened fire on the unarmed protesters, and 69 people were killed, numerous others injured. After this massacre, the ANC decided to adopt armed struggle, and started carrying out sabotage, which eventually led to their arrest.
Image credits: Police at Sharpeville Massacre (unknown). Reprinted in Divestment for Humanity: The Anti-Apartheid Movement at the University of Michigan. This photo is in the public domain. Courtesy of sacivilrights.weebly.com.
Image credits: Police at Sharpeville Massacre (unknown). Reprinted in Divestment for Humanity: The Anti-Apartheid Movement at the University of Michigan. This photo is in the public domain. Courtesy of sacivilrights.weebly.com.
The Rivonia Trial
Nelson Mandela and 11 other ANC leaders were put on trial accused of sabotage under the Treason Act. They were expected to receive the death sentence, but instead were given life sentences and sent off to Robben Island, where they spent more than two decades.
Image credits: Rivonia Treason Trial, by Francisco Anzola (2016), CC BY 2.0.
Image credits: Rivonia Treason Trial, by Francisco Anzola (2016), CC BY 2.0.
Start of Soweto Uprising
A lot of young people, who were angry and disillusioned, took to the streets in violent uprisings, and the situation was at several stages almost like a civil war, where the government, police and army were trying to control the situation.
Image text and credits: Hector Pieterson being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo. His sister, Antoinette Sithole, runs beside them. Remembering Soweto, by Åse Elin Langeland, CC BY 4.0.
Image text and credits: Hector Pieterson being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo. His sister, Antoinette Sithole, runs beside them. Remembering Soweto, by Åse Elin Langeland, CC BY 4.0.
F. de Klerk elected President, start of end of apartheid
de Klerk faced the facts and knew that things had to change in South Africa. He started talks with Nelson Mandela, and was willing to negotiate with him.
Nelson Mandela released from prison
After a lot of international pressure, as well as the situation within South Africa, Nelson Mandela was finally released from prison.
New democratic constitution
A new constitution was approved, giving each individual the right to vote regardless of color.
ANC wins election, Mandela becomes President
This marks the final end of apartheid, and a great victory for the ANC and the long struggle against apartheid that Mandela had spearheaded.
Image credits: Mandela, by unknown, CC BY SA 3.0.
Image credits: Mandela, by unknown, CC BY SA 3.0.
The Protest Movement
The organization that was most central in fighting against the apartheid regime was the ANC (African National Congress), though many other organizations were actively involved in the struggle as well. The strategy of the ANC was non-violence, as they believed that this was the only way forward. Many campaigns were carried out, such as bus boycotts, defiance campaigns (deliberately breaking apartheid laws, in order to get arrested), burning pass books, and other forms of non-violent protests. Though some of them can be seen as partly successful because they brought the community together and showed that there was strength in numbers, the regime always struck down the protests, and the main goal of getting the government to retract the oppressive laws was unsuccessful.
After the Sharpeville massacre (see timeline above), Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders decided to abandon the non-violent strategy and adopt armed struggle. The massacre had proven how violently brutal the government was, and the lack of results from previous campaigns also showed that their strategy had failed. They established the militant wing of the ANC called the MK. Their goal was to go after government property such as power installations and infrastructure, not to violently attack people. They successfully carried out some sabotage actions, but it brought them no closer to their goal. Instead, they were wanted by police, and after being able to hide out for a while, Nelson Mandela and 11 others were caught and put on trial. This trial was called the Rivonia trial, and though they were all sentenced to life in prison, it provided a chance for Mandela to reach out with an important message. In the video clip below you can see a reenactment of his famous speech during the trial, from the film Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom (2013):
Nelson Mandela and many of the other ANC leaders spent more than two decades in prison at Robben Island. During this period the ANC was mainly dormant, though some leaders had escaped and were trying to direct the organization from exile. However, international pressure on the apartheid government was increasing, including boycott of South African goods, and sanctions such as being banned from the Commonwealth Games. Protests took place around the world, with concerts such as the one in the video below calling out for the release of Mandela:
Meanwhile, within South Africa the situation had turned violent, with a generation of disillusioned youth who were without an education and without prospects and opportunities in life, hit the streets in places like Soweto in the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, by the late 1980s the pressure both from within and internationally led to the release of Nelson Mandela, a new democratic constitution and the dismantling of the apartheid regime. In 1994 Nelson Mandela became the first Black president of South Africa. Here you can see his inauguration speech:
To Do
In this group activity, you are going to work with a range of historical sources that are connected to the apartheid era. You can access these sources (on Teams) using the previous link, though you will also get a paper version.
For each of the sources, discuss the following and make notes:
- 1: What is the origin and purpose of the source?
- 2: What is the message of the source?
- 3: What does the source tell us about the apartheid era?
- 4: What are the limitations of the source?
U3 - Inequality 2/2
Part 2: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
For this part of the unit on inequality we are going to read a book written by Trevor Noah, who was born during the extremely unequal era in South Africa called apartheid. Trevor Noah is a successful stand-up comedian and host of the American new satire show The Daily Show. In the following video you will see a video made for the Daily Show in which he visits his grandmother in Soweto, South Africa:
Born in 1983, Trevor Noah experienced the final days of apartheid and the transition to democracy during his formative years. In the following video you will see a part of his stand-up act at the Appollo in London, where he talks about his childhood experiences:
To Do
Below you will see a range of short quotes from the book. Read them and for each consider what they might mean.
«The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other»
«The Zulu man is known as the warrior. He is proud. He puts his head down and fights»
«The Xhosa pride themselves on being the thinkers. My mother is Xhosa. Nelson Mandela was Xhosa»
«Then Apartheid fell, Mandela walked free, and black South Africa went to war with itself»
«I was nine years old when my mother threw me out of a moving car»
«The white man was quite stern with the native. ‘You need to pray to Jesus,’ he said. To which the native replied ‘Well, we do need to be saved – from you. So let’s give this Jesus thing a shot’»
«The triumph of democracy over apartheid is sometimes called the Bloodless Revolution. It is called that because very little blood was spilled. Black blood ran in the streets»
«He chose to have me in his life. Being chosen is the greatest gift you can give to another human being»
«Necklacing was common. That’s where people could hold someone’s arms down and put a rubber tire over his torso, pinning his arms. Then they’d douse him with petrol and set him on fire and burn him alive»
«‘Look mom, I know you love Jesus, but maybe next week you could ask him to meet us at our house. Because this really wasn’t a fun night’»
«After a certain hour, blacks had to be back home in the township or risk arrest. My mother didn’t care»
«Race-mixing proves that races can mix – and in a lot of cases, want to mix. Because a mixed person embodies that rebuke to the logic of the system, race-mixing becomes a crime worse than treason»
«‘Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of discipline will remove it far from him.’ – Proverbs 22:15»
«And in all of that time I’ve yet to find a place where black people like cats. One of the biggest reasons for that, as we know in South Africa, is that only witches have cats, and all cats are witches»
«In Hillbrow, we lived in a white area, and nobody looked like me. In Soweto, we lived in a black area, and nobody looked like me. Eden Park was a colored area, and everyone looked like me, but we couldn’t have been more different»
«Nine times out of ten, your European name was chosen at random. I know guys named after Mussolini and Napoleon. And, of course, Hitler»
«You get that with a lot of black parents. They’re trying to discipline you before the system does. ‘I need to do this to you before the police to it to you’»
«A knowledgeable man is a free man, or at least a man who longs for freedom»
«British racism said, ‘If the monkey can walk like a man and talk like a man, then perhaps he is a man.’ Afrikaner racism said, ‘Why give a book to a monkey?’»
«My mom did what school didn’t. She taught me how to think»
«In America the dream is to make it out of the ghetto. In Soweto, because there was no leaving the ghetto, the dream was to transform the ghetto»
«If you’re looking for a job, English is the difference between getting the job or staying unemployed»
«When I look back, I realize she raised me like a white kid—believing that the world was my oyster, that I should speak up for myself, that my ideas and thoughts and decisions mattered»
«The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other»
«The Zulu man is known as the warrior. He is proud. He puts his head down and fights»
«The Xhosa pride themselves on being the thinkers. My mother is Xhosa. Nelson Mandela was Xhosa»
«Then Apartheid fell, Mandela walked free, and black South Africa went to war with itself»
«I was nine years old when my mother threw me out of a moving car»
«The white man was quite stern with the native. ‘You need to pray to Jesus,’ he said. To which the native replied ‘Well, we do need to be saved – from you. So let’s give this Jesus thing a shot’»
«The triumph of democracy over apartheid is sometimes called the Bloodless Revolution. It is called that because very little blood was spilled. Black blood ran in the streets»
«He chose to have me in his life. Being chosen is the greatest gift you can give to another human being»
«Necklacing was common. That’s where people could hold someone’s arms down and put a rubber tire over his torso, pinning his arms. Then they’d douse him with petrol and set him on fire and burn him alive»
«‘Look mom, I know you love Jesus, but maybe next week you could ask him to meet us at our house. Because this really wasn’t a fun night’»
«After a certain hour, blacks had to be back home in the township or risk arrest. My mother didn’t care»
«Race-mixing proves that races can mix – and in a lot of cases, want to mix. Because a mixed person embodies that rebuke to the logic of the system, race-mixing becomes a crime worse than treason»
«‘Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of discipline will remove it far from him.’ – Proverbs 22:15»
«And in all of that time I’ve yet to find a place where black people like cats. One of the biggest reasons for that, as we know in South Africa, is that only witches have cats, and all cats are witches»
«In Hillbrow, we lived in a white area, and nobody looked like me. In Soweto, we lived in a black area, and nobody looked like me. Eden Park was a colored area, and everyone looked like me, but we couldn’t have been more different»
«Nine times out of ten, your European name was chosen at random. I know guys named after Mussolini and Napoleon. And, of course, Hitler»
«You get that with a lot of black parents. They’re trying to discipline you before the system does. ‘I need to do this to you before the police to it to you’»
«A knowledgeable man is a free man, or at least a man who longs for freedom»
«British racism said, ‘If the monkey can walk like a man and talk like a man, then perhaps he is a man.’ Afrikaner racism said, ‘Why give a book to a monkey?’»
«My mom did what school didn’t. She taught me how to think»
«In America the dream is to make it out of the ghetto. In Soweto, because there was no leaving the ghetto, the dream was to transform the ghetto»
«If you’re looking for a job, English is the difference between getting the job or staying unemployed»
«When I look back, I realize she raised me like a white kid—believing that the world was my oyster, that I should speak up for myself, that my ideas and thoughts and decisions mattered»
To Do
Answer the questions to each chapter, discuss them with your peers and make notes. While you read, please note down quotes you like or find interesting.
Chapter 1: Run
- What was the difference between the different churches Trevor and his mother attended?
- What role did religion seem to play in their lives?
- Trevor says that “we had a very Tom and Jerry relationship, me and my mom” (Noah, 2016 p.11) What does he mean by that?
- Why did Trevor get hurled from a moving car?
- Write a brief character description of Noah and his mother Patricia based on what you have read so far.
Chapter 2: Born a Crime
- What does the title of this chapter (and the book) mean?
- What consequences did Trevor’s parents’ crime have for him growing up?
- We get to know Trevor’s mom Patricia better in this chapter. What did you think of her and her attitude to the apartheid regime?
Chapter 3: Trevor, pray
- In this chapter, Trevor mentions Meadowlands. In 1954 the NP government passed the Native Resettlement Act, which allowed them to remove Blacks from areas in Johannesburg reserved for Whites (South African History Online, n.d.). In this episode of Witness from BBC Radio 4, we get to hear an eyewitness tell the story of how Blacks were forcibly removed from Sophiatown and moved to Meadowlands.
Listen and make some notes on what they tell us. - How does Trevor describe Soweto? Go online and search for photos and information about Soweto today. What is it like? Does it seem to have changed since Trevor grew up there?
- Through the book Trevor used humor, some times to talk about some very serious and dark issues. Can you find some examples of use of humor? What effect does it have?
Chapter 4: Chameleon
- Why does Trevor say “there were so many perks to being ‘white’ in a black family”
- What does Trevor say about the role of English in South Africa? Why was knowledge of language so useful to Trevor and his mom?
- On page 56 Trevor says “I became a chameleon” – what did he mean by that?
Chapter 5: The Second Girl
- What is the “curse of being black and poor”?
- Trevor’s mom Patricia told him: “Learn from your past and be better because of your past” … “but don’t cry about your past. Life is full of pain. Let the pain sharpen you, but don’t hold on to it. Don’t be bitter.” Does this quote hold any relevance to your own life? Can you learn anything from this attitude?
- Why did Patricia choose the name Trevor for her son?
Chapter 6: Loopholes
- Why did Trevor’s mom claim she was not his mother at the shop?
- Do you think that Trevor and Patricia have similar personalities? Find quotes from the book to support your claim.
- How did Trevor end up burning down a house?
Chapter 7: Fufi
- Why would no one dare to own a cat in a black neighborhood?
- What does Trevor say about the difference in how white and black people treat their dogs?
- How did Trevor’s dog Fufi change how he felt about relationships?
Chapter 8: Robert
- How does Trevor describe his father?
- How did Trevor’s father resist/oppose the apartheid system (apart from his relationship with Patricia)?
- How did Trevor feel after reuniting with his father?
Chapter 9: The Mulberry Tree
- Describe Trevor’s struggle with identity and belonging.
- What did you learn about the apartheid color classification system in this chapter?
- Who was Abel, and what impression did you get of him?
Chapter 10: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally tragic, and frequently humiliating education in affairs of the heart, Part I: Valentine’s Day
- Describe the girl Trevor wanted to ask to be his Valentine.
- How did he feel about girls and love at this point?
- How did his first “love story” end?
Chapter 11: Outsider
- In this chapter, Trevor mentions townships, homelands, and the Bantu system. What were they? (You can go back to the overview of apartheid history, or do some research to find out).
- To what extent can an autobiography like Born A Crime help us understand history? What are the limitations of such a book for studying History?
- Explain the title of this chapter with reference to the stories he tells in the chapter.
Chapter 12: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally Tragic, and Frequently Humiliating Education in Affairs of the Heart, Part II: The Crush
- How did Trevor’s second “love story” go?
- How does Trevor describe himself at this stage in his life?
- Do you find him relatable?
Chapter 13: Colorblind
- At this point you have read about several different neighborhoods that Trevor and his mom lived in. What were the differences between these neighborhoods?
- How do you think his experience growing up in these different neighborhoods shaped Trevor’s character?
- In this chapter, Trevor says “These people had been so fucked by their own construct of race that they could not see that the white person they were looking for was sitting right in front of them”. What does he mean by that?
Chapter 14: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally tragic, and frequently humiliating education in affairs of the heart, Part III: The Dance
- At this point in the book, Trevor is about as old as you are now. Do you find his life relatable? Are there any similarities to your own life?
- What impression do you get of Trevor’s stepfather Abel?
- How did Trevor’s date with Babiki go, and why did it end that way?
Chapter 15: Go Hitler!
- Describe Trevor’s business ventures.
- “With Mandela came freedom, and with freedom came McDonald’s” (p.189). What did this mean?
- Why is Hitler an acceptable name in South Africa, and how can this teach us something about historical perspective?
Chapter 16: The Cheese Boys
- Why did Trevor move out at the age of 17, and how did he make a living?
- Trevor says: “It’s easy to be judgemental about crime when you live in a world wealthy enough to be removed from it” (p.212). What does this mean?
- What was his attitude to crime at this time? Was he different from the other guys he ran around with?
Chapter 17: The World Doesn’t Love You
- Why did Trevor get arrested?
- Why did he not call his mother?
- What does the story of ‘the Hulk’, who Trevor meets in prison, tell us about the consequences of apartheid?
Chapter 18: My Mothers Life
- Describe Patricia’s relationship with Abel.
- How did Abel coming into the family change life for Trevor and his mom?
- Who shot Patricia, and why? What saved her?
Bibliography
BBC. (2015, April 3). The Sophiatown Removals . Retrieved from BBC Radio 4 : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ b05p9w83
InThinking History. (n.d. ). Nature and Characteristics of Discrimination. Retrieved from InThinking: https://www.thinkib.net/history/page /44454/1-nature-and-characteristics-of-discrimination
Noah, T. (2016 ). Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood . London: John Murray.
South African Government. (n.d.). History. Retrieved from South African Government: https://www.gov.za/about-sa/history
South African History Online. (N.D. ). Sophiatown. Retrieved from South African History Online: https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/ sophiatown