Lily can't fathom the events that took place under apartheid

Since our arrival in Johannesburg, we have spent the last three days visiting sites of historical importance. From the apartheid museum to the police station of the Sharpeville massacre, it has been three days of sadness in recognizing the amount of dehumanization and oppression that took place and continues to cause inequalities in this country.

The apartheid museum truly showed each side of the struggle against apartheid and the strength that the apartheid government had. From the beginning, we were each given a ticket at random that said either "white" or "non-white" and had to go in through our designated entrance (see attached image). The entrance for white people was wide and had a smooth ramp to bring you into the museum. The entrance for non-whites had a narrow hallway with steps to get to the same place in the museum. Though it may seem like a small difference, the everyday conveniences were only afforded to whites, and this added up quickly.

We walked into a room that was full of nooses hanging from the ceiling, with lists of the political prisoners who were tortured and killed by police and recorded as having committed suicide or died of natural consequences. It took so much bravery for those who stood up and resisted, even though they would be killed before seeing any results.

It truly made me recognize that every institution that is supposed to protect its citizens failed for the majority of the people in South Africa. The government failed when it put apartheid into law and oppressed the freedoms of the colored and black communities. The police system failed when police used their own ideas of justice to torture and kill people. The justice system failed when people used their right to free speech to speak out against the apartheid government, and then were imprisoned for doing so. With all of these failures, I am absolutely amazed that people were brave enough to work towards a better future and equality. It truly shows the worst and best that humanity has to offer. It's incredibly sad.

Being in Johannesburg is showing how different areas of this country are. Not only in the surface impressions, such as the difference in accents, but also in core political beliefs.

In Cape Town, I had yet to find someone who supported President Zuma and defended the decisions he has made. I had heart a lot of people say they would give him a vote of no confidence if they were asked.

However, here in Johannesburg, specifically in Sharpeville, we met an ANC supporter who defended Zuma and contradicted a lot of the opinions we had heard in Cape Town. He was implying that everyone that had voted for the ANC in the last election (over 60%) had supported Zuma and implied that support was still present. When the swimming pool and other additions to Zumas house was brought up, he said it was acceptable spending because he needed to entertain his guests.

Another man asked Josh to take a picture and said it was to show that racism wasn't present. They also had an important conversation about socialisms transition to dictatorships that I will leave for Josh to write about.

The conversations in Sharpeville were very eye opening and it was interesting to hear such different opinions than I am used to.

The memorial gardens were a difficult but important visit to make. There were 69 pillars, one for each person who was killed outside the police station. It was shocking when I lifted up the flowers on top and saw that the human being it represented was a 14 year old boy who was shot and killed. I cannot fathom the events that took place during apartheid and how anyone could think they were on the moral high ground in oppression the majority population of people.