Sharpeville Massacre- Jade d.

     On March 21^st, 1960, South African police forces invaded a town called Sharpeville. These police forces fired on a crowd of protestors that had resulted in approximately 160 injuries and 69 deaths, among which were women and children. This massacre is known to be the first and most violent protest in South Africa against apartheid.

     This massacre isn’t just considered violent because of the numerous amount of deaths and injuries that occurred on that day. The participating protestors evidently had also been involved with vicious actions that included throwing rocks at police cars.

     The demonstrators present at the protest were from a group called the “Pan- Africanist Congress” which developed their ideas and beliefs based off of the African National Congress and are now considered a minor political party in South Africa. The Pan Africanists Congress planned this protest in result of the requirement of their reference books. All men, women, and children were required to carry reference books with them wherever they went. Reference books contained a person’s name, tax code, employment details, and just their general personal information. If stopped by a police officer and lacked your reference book, it could result in being arrested or detained for up to 30 days.

      In protesting against reference books, all the demonstrators were to leave their reference books at home and intentionally bestow themselves in front of the police station and police officers to be arrested. The leader of this demonstration was the leader of the Pan- Africanist Congress, Robert Subukwe. His theory was that the prisons wouldn’t be capable of tending to all of the protestors therefore the economy would struggle.

     With the amount of demonstrators that were present at the march, Subkwe felt like his protest was going to be successful. Unfortunately, the police, unhesitant to express their dominance over the South Africans, fired into the crowds. The first shots were fired in front of the Sharpeville Police Station where roughly 5,000 to 7,000 people gathered to abolish the requirement of reference books. About 300 police officers had assembled together in response to the protest and shot randomly in the crowd.

     In result of the violent massacre, the government declared a state of emergency. Alas thousands of South Africans were arrested and the Pan Africanist Congress was outlawed, along with the African National Congress. The goal of the protestors was to banish reference books and sadly, this event had led to a loss in hope of a better society. Many South Africans were then convinced that peaceful protests were not successful, consequently favoring more violent demonstrations.
      Today, people in South Africa acknowledges March 21^st as “Human Rights Day” in honor of the protest at Sharpeville. It pains me to imagine the good intentions of South Africans going out to demonstrate a non-violate protest in attempt to gain the rights they deserve and instead in murder and arrests. My recommendations for the future studiers of the Sharpeville Massacre is to look further in depth into the work that the that the African National Congress performed along with the Pan Africanist Congress. Personally, I would find it interesting to become knowledgeable of their actions in fighting for African’s rights and learning about their organization’s history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVMPlVBm29Y

Jade d. 

"Sharpeville Massacre (South African History)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.

"1960: Scores Die in Sharpeville Shoot-out." BBC News. BBC, 21 Mar. 1960. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.

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