World Cup Soccer and Racisim
I am here in Capetown, South Africa with my 12 year old son Jack for the World Cup. The soccer games are amazing and Capetown is an incredibly beautiful seaside city that is full of life. As South Africa hosts the World Cup it is also trying to create a new world image. A new soccer stadium was built in Capetown for the World Cup and it is beautiful. The stadium is just a few miles from Robben Island Prison where Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists were punished.
Apartheid was legalized race discrimination and it takes on new meaning when you visit South Africa. You see its impact and feel the racism that still exists here. During apartheid, non-whites were only allowed to live in certain areas called townships. These townships still exist and are even more crowded and impovershed. Basic food and medical care is lacking and people suffer. Today we are going to visit a township called Gugulethu.
Jack and I are here in Capetown with a U.S. based charity called Open Arms that helps poor South Africans. Open Arms work in South Africa is focused on Gugulethu and they really help people with serious problems and they need support.
Yesterday we visited the District 6 museum in Capetown which starkly portrays organized government backed racism. District 6 was once a neighborhood in Capetown that was occupied by non-whites. The government forced the residents to leave their homes and tore down the neighborhood. Families were broken up and sent to encampments based on race. If a husband and wife were of slightly different races or even colors they would be sent to different locations and forced to live apart because of their race. Many former residents of District 6 are still living in those townships and they cannot afford to eat much less attend a World Cup soccer game.
