The Darkness Of The Heart Essay

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Apartheid: The Darkness of the Heart

It goes by many names, and is as old as history itself. It has found justification within the “holy” texts of written languages, and in the traditions, of cultures lost to time. The hierarchy of the animal kingdom shows the status of each species, and its “proper” place in the order of things. Man stands at the very top, but there is not a lot of space up at the very pinnacle. In the minds of these “scientific-minded” humans there must be a proper ranking of the races. This is the point where the slope turns extremely slippery, and all kinds of avalanches can get started-often the ones on top wind up buried at the bottom of the heap of history.
Not surprisingly, the hierarchy of humans is usually decided by technology and tyranny. Foot soldiers carrying stone axes or bronze-tipped spears are out maneuvered by mounted men equipped with chariots, steel swords and catapults capable of throwing nasty surprises for long distances. When gun powder and mechanized transport were developed, it blew all else out of the water, or ditch, literally. However, the world’s most advanced civilizations have risen and fallen due to the very same blunder. NO peoples want to be subservient to another - EVER. The tighter and harsher the grip becomes, the more the population will slip through the ruler’s fingers. The Age of Empires imploded for this very reason. Those that fail to remember history’s lessons are doomed to repeat them. South Africa’s apartheid government obviously missed this lecture.
South Africa’s ecosystems support an astounding diversity of animal, bird, and marine life. The mild climate, fertile soil, and the fact it lies along the lucrative sea trading route between Europe and Asia...

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...sident, but his legacy is secure ("Nelson Mandela Biography”).
Racism is never bound by culture, language, or even continents. It is an evil that spans the globe. The history of South Africa is of a culturally divided and fragmented society. The architects of apartheid took advantage of this splintered social order to create an institutionalized separation, dehumanization and enslavement of a people through laws and customs. However, freedom can be achieved when one voice has the courage to stand up against thousands, and inspires others to stand up for what is right and just. The ending of apartheid in South Africa allows people everywhere to never again accept a different definition of freedom depending on a classification imposed by another. South Africa has forged a bright future from the chains of the darkness of the heart – the darkness known as apartheid.

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