The Picture Which Awoke the World

On June 16, 1976, schoolchildren in the South-west Township (SoWeTo) began a protest against the imposition of Afrikaans in their classrooms. On that day, the protest was brutally put down by the police. The death of one of the victims that day, Hector Pieterson, was captured in a picture that quickly dispersed throughout the world. This iconic image was for many people the first stark visualization of the realities of the apartheid system.

Sam Nzima who took the photo and another journalist rushed Hector to a clinic, but he was already dead. Nzima and Mbuyisa Makhubo, the young man who carried him, were both later arrested by the police.

I remember this photograph as an 11 year-old sitting in New Hampshire. I like many in the west did not know anything of the realities faced by people in this country, but I do remember the horror of the image. A South African friend told me the other day that she too remembers this photo and it was for her "another piece in the puzzle." I have often wondered what were South African whites thinking during apartheid - did they think it could last for ever. A friend said the other day that "you cannot imagine how controlled the information was for us. " But she continued, "We were taught not to ask questions. And, of course, we did not want to see." She later remarked that this lasted until one day when reading something opened her eyes, and then then everything seemed so clear.

Today, I reminded of a talk last night on bird calls. The speaker said that there is so much stimuli all of the time that our minds are so very good at filtering out that which we cannot absorb. He had been a young birder, but had lost track of the songs of the birds as he grew and got busy with school and then his career. It took conscious effort and practice for him again "hear the bird calls that were all around him."

What am I not hearing that is all around me?

April 5, 2008

We visited the museum dedicated to the Soweto uprisings and named for Hector. Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum lies in the heart of Soweto in a direct line to the spot where young Hector lost his life.

It provides a great introduction to this moment in history. This is a really well curated museum. It focuses on this single event and it's size is manageable for the novice, allowing a person to step into this one event and understand it . There is quite good information on the precedents and antecedents to the events of the day, without the overwhelming the visitor with the full sweep of this period of South Africa's history. The visitor comes away with a more complete understanding of what that iconic photograph represented and today represents.

Outside of the museum, the photo is displayed in a beautiful fountain. To the left of the fountain, one can get a panoramic view of this portion of the vast Sowetan township.