“Sirens blared, voices screamed and shouted, wood cracked and windows shattered, children bawled, dogs barked and footsteps pounded.” This is from the autobiography “Kaffir Boy” written by Mark Mathabane. This quote explains the everyday struggle of blacks living in the apartheid of South Africa. Apartheid is a policy of racial segregation and white supremacy by the South African government and was used to limit the governing power and place of residence of blacks. Apartheid system affected every black person living in South Africa during that time. It forced blacks to become slaves in their own country and also forced them to live in unsanitary environments, carry passes, work low paying jobs, and receive a limited education. White people were living comfortable lives, with nice mansions and expensive cars, while black people had to leave in disease infested neighborhoods without electricity or indoor plumbing. Blacks had to fit approximately 1,000 people in a one square mile area of shacks. The alleys were filled with a mixture of dirt, rats, and human wastes. They lived in houses made of “old whitewash, a leaking ceiling of rusted zinc propped up by a thin wall of crumbling adobe bricks, two tiny windows made of cardboard of average height...and a floor made of patches of cement and earth.” Low paying jobs were the only jobs available for black men. Black women mostly worked as servants for white people. Men had to work in mines, clean up toilets, or work as police officers, abusing their own people. “The shit-men – belligerent immigrant workers who,
