Community High School

“There can be a better world”

“I spoke out. I spoke a lot.” At a time when the outspoken were met with the crack of police batons and the ever-present possibility of death, Yazir Henry did not hesitate to march against oppression and racism.

Henry, who was an activist in South Africa against the white government’s brutal apartheid campaign, began speaking out as a young teen. At an age when most American teens would be graduating from their freshman years in high school, Henry risked his life in mass marches during the late 1980’s. For Henry, it was this tendency of speaking out that lead him to becoming a leader in the student action committee at his school, and ultimately, becoming a voice opposed to the racist rule which plagued the entire country.

In many ways, apartheid can be compared to the racism against black Americans during the 1960’s, but with one huge difference – in South Africa, whites only make up about 10% of the population. Despite this, South Africa was controlled by a completely white government. Apartheid, literally meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans, kept non-whites from voting, owning higher-end jobs or businesses, and formalized segregation. It was for these reasons, among many others, that caused Henry to become an activist at the age of 14.

“A big issue at the time for us was corporal punishment,” says Henry. Teachers, both white and non-white would regularly beat students. These beatings, says Henry, were efforts to keep things the way they were and block any uprisings. Nonetheless, Henry and many of his schoolmates engaged in civil disobedience. Henry and other student leaders would coordinate skip days, where in protest, no students would attend school. In the place of school, Henry would attend mass marches opposing the ruling government.

There was, however, no free speech in South Africa at the time, and the marches were deemed illegal by the state. So when students went to march, they were met with armed police officers. Continually confronted with hardships, Henry was driven by a deep belief in his struggle. “There was total hope. It was a kind of hope that is different from the way people usually speak of hope.”

At the age of 15, Henry’s school was filled with police officers armed with rifles. “The protests turned extremely violent, and the state put them down violently. We were watching our fellow students being arrested and shot in the street.” Many marches began to be centered on funerals of people who had died in the struggle.

At first Henry was more involved at a local level, dealing with the issues at his school. However, as Henry matured, he became more involved in the larger civic struggle. Henry joined the then banned African National Congress, or ANC, which organized large scale protests against the state. Once the ANC was banned by the state, simply being associated with the organization would lead to imprisonment.

_"The protests turned extremely violent, and the state put them down violently.  We were watching our fellow students being arrested and shot in the streets."_

At this time, the white government was under intense international scrutiny, struggling to maintain its international reputation as a stable democracy while being pressured by the UN to end apartheid. The government attempted to downplay the affects of apartheid and portray protesters as ungrateful. Therefore, the state began to use more underhanded methods to destroy the rebellion. Yazir Henry would be the victim of these methods. Henry was arrested and imprisoned for seven months in solitary confinement. Upon his release, the government announced that Henry had become a part of the “state apparatus”. Henry had been framed; his support for the ANC had never wavered, but now, Henry was in a dangerous situation: “between a rock and a hard place.” “I survived,” said Henry, who had to leave the country to avoid being killed by his own community. Throughout his later teenage years, Henry had no contact whatsoever with any family members. “I was my own mother and father.”

In 1994, the struggle seemed over and done- the ANC, headed by Nelson Mandela, won the first democratic elections in South Africa’s history. Immediately, apartheid was abolished. However, as Henry says, the struggle for equality is not yet won. Economic conditions in South Africa are still very difficult for non-whites attempting to enter the mainstream economy. The majority of the country’s wealth is still controlled by whites, a small minority. Henry believes education is the largest barrier in the way of economic equality. Still, issues in South Africa run deeper than just education says Henry. Despite South Africa being one of the wealthiest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, many people lack food, water, and electricity.

Many of these problems arose due to what happened after the fall of the apartheid state. While there was lots of international support to end apartheid, largely headed by the UN which declared apartheid a crime against humanity, there was a failure to address important issues after the fall of the white government. “A lot of similarities economically [prior to the fall of apartheid]…continue to exist,” says Henry, who believes that the struggle is not yet over, but in a different stage; “we need to definitely invest in education.”

Henry’s experiences as a child activist have instilled within him a sense of obligation. “So many people were killed. Those of us that are alive now, who have survived…have a responsibility.” It is because of what Henry has lived through that Henry works today as a human rights activist. When asked what life would have been like for him if he had grown up away from the violence and struggle he experienced, Henry said, “I probably would have just been another person.” Instead, Henry is dedicated to making a difference. “I believe this…we cannot give up on believing that there can be a better world.”