South African youth remember the Soweto Riots on this significant Public Holiday
June 16th is a public holiday in South Africa commemorating the start of the Soweto Riots of 1976, sparked off by a government edict that all instruction in black schools would be delivered in Afrikaans.
The iconic picture of Hector Pieterson, a black schoolchild shot by the police in Soweto near Johannesburg during a peaceful protest march, brought home the brutalities of the Apartheid regime to many people within and outside of South Africa. In the weeks that followed over 700 people – mostly youth – were killed.
Youth Day could be a conflict-ridden date, but instead it serves to remind South Africa of the importance of its youth and brings across the message that something like “the Soweto riots” should never happen again.
