RECOGNISE THE POWER YOU HAVE

Normally in the evening I would watch TV, get busy on WhatsApp and Facebook and then go to sleep. But one special thing happened on May 4, 2018 that totally changed my evening schedule.

My mom and I  were watching a documentary about June 16 uprising which occurred in South Africa. I took strong interest in the documentary by immersing my mind completely. After a week, I was able to buy a book titled ‘June 16: 40th Anniversary Edition’ written by Peter Magubane.

spread countrywide

It became obvious to me that the uprising that began in Soweto and spread countrywide profoundly changed the socio-political landscape in South Africa. What is interesting to me though is that the events that triggered the uprising can be traced back to policies of the apartheid government that resulted in the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in 1953. I really admire this generation for their collective heroism and clarity of purpose. They were able to overcome fear of death, the sting of hunger, episodes of deprivation and the vanity of youth could not cripple their willingness to be heard. What the youth of 1976 did validates my audacity to dare to believe that my voice as a young person is powerful. All they had was the naivety of youth, a burning urge to free themselves from the shackles of a system that didn’t recognise their intelligence and humanity, yet they managed to shape history. How I wish we can unite with the same clarity of purpose.  Surely, they were not perfect. They had their own fears, insecurities and demons to confront. Some of them could have been criminals.

motherless and fatherless

In their generation there could have been teenage mothers and fathers just as it was possible that there were the motherless and fatherless. Not all of them went on to further their studies. However, they managed to define what they stood for beyond their personal imperfections and preferences. They rebelled against a system that was immovable and they came out victorious because they believed they had equal if not more power collectively to beat it.  My generation is obsessed with personal glory, mapping things out on paper and we forget that real power lies in the connections and appeals we make to like-minded people’s hearts to join movements that are genuine in bringing justice to those who are less privileged than us. We are privileged. I am privileged in that I know the onus to bring justice and to make a difference is on me, like the youth of 1976. True privilege is recognising the power you have and using it to serve humanity. The South African youth of 1976 demonstrated this with no weapons or arms, only with the knowledge that their determination to stand up for their rights was powerful. They knew that if their generation didn’t do anything about it – then they would have betrayed humanity.

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