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Apartheid and Segregation?
Watching District 9 made me curious:
Why is the segregation of blacks and whites in the US in the past not considered an apartheid system? What about when the blacks were slaves?
Don't take this the wrong way, I know that it isn't I just want a formal explanation 'cause all I can tell myself is that it isn't because it isn't. lol.
I'm not an American and I don't study history. . just curious
1 Answer
- 1 decade agoFavourite answer
Apartheid is a South African word that refers to the separation of the races. Apartheid viewed black South Africans as non citizens temporarily living in South Africa. Eventually all blacks would be moved out of South Africa into homelands. Apartheid legally denied blacks the right to vote (as they were not seen as citizens).
Segregation in the US never revoked the citizenship of black Americans. Instead, they were subjected to laws that in theory provided separate but equal accommodations in public facilities, but in reality provided blacks with inferior accommodations like schools. Extra legal violence, the threat of violence, and economic threats (like loss of jobs) were used to deny black Americans the right to vote, thus excluding them from all political power.
During slavery in the US, blacks had no rights, and were viewed as little more than livestock. They could be beaten or killed by whites with impunity.