South African Apartheid and its Affect on Black Culture (Spencer Weigand)
In many ways, the Vietnam War encapsulated the titanic struggle between eastern and the westernized governmental organization in the Mid 20th century, and the rejection of imperialism. This war was not only the epitome of the ideological differences between communist and capitalist ideology but the difference in the numerous communities in the United States. One such community was Black Americans. In his work Black Is a Country Nikhil Pal Singh explains "What distinguished the black versions of popular front politics, however, was that they also reflected a far less compromising, and more broadly informed, commitment to struggles for radical justice at home and abroad within the black public sphere". Not only did countless black leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speak out against the war itself, but the community as a whole never lost site of the global picture. As historian Jill Lepore puts it: "while the rest of the country was focused on the issue of the Vietnam war, the black community never lost site of its international struggle for freedom, a prime example of this being found in South African Apartheid.
The South African Apartheid shows how the that the discrimination of black people was not isolated to America but was very much a global issue, in addition the Apartheid explores the issue of equality for black people as an issue related to imperialism.
Image 1:
As the rest of America focussed on a decades-long war of attrition, members of the black community gathered outside the Chase Manhattan Bank in order to protest the loans the bank had been giving to Apartheid South Africa. This protest was six years in the making, as during the Student NonVoilent Coordinating Comimty’s (SNCC) founding, it announced: “We identify ourselves with the African struggle as a concern for all mankind.” This clear statement meant it was only a matter of time before SNCC took issue with the South African government. This issue began to take shape in 1965 when the first of many protests against the Chase Manhattan Bank began to take shape. While most of America was focused on the final hours of the Vietnam war 400 protestors showed gathered to protest the bank. Despite the popular American front focusing on stopping Vietnam, SNCC and the black community showed their international focus, not becoming blinded by the rest of America.
Document 2:
After years of shadow boxing between the South African Government and SNCC, the gloves would finally come off at the All African Peoples Conference (AAPC) of 1977, in which the united black international front corner the South African Government. The inaugural all African peoples, as described by the CIA, was held in 1958 and was formed to “Create a mechanism through which the independent countries of Africa could assist the dependent territories to gain their independence.” This mission continued to expand of the years until, in 1977, focusing on the ending of apartheid in South Africa. As the article to the left describes, this is also where SNCC began to participate in the conference. However, this move did not have the support of cold war America, as evident by the aforementioned CIA report. This, intern, is a prime example of Lepore’s point on a national story, as America feared this move because of a lack of understanding of the united black international front.
COCLUSION:
Bnbeknownst to the majority of Americans South African Apartheid was deeply intertwined with Black American culture. This is largely covered up by a lack of understanding that only emphasizes Jill Lepore’s point on a common national story. However, underneath this lack of understanding is an important dynamic, showing how blacks were focused on the global picture during a time when most of America was focused on a single national threat. This difference in perspective exemplifies the importance of diversifying perspectives in education.
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