South Africa's Time

Thirty-four years ago this week, on June 16, 1976, thousands of black school children in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest the apartheid education system that obliged them to be taught in Afrikaans. It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, but the students were met with police gunfire and at least 23 of them were killed. The shooting sparked off days of protests known as the Soweto uprisings, which many regard as the beginning of the end of the apartheid regime.

June 16 is now a national holiday in South Africa. It is called “Youth Day.”

How ironic and at the same time appropriate that South Africa’s celebration of “Youth Day” should occur as it hosts this year’s World Cup tournament.

“Most people know our history, but don't fully know it,” one young South African woman told a reporter. “So they're coming here (all of the people for the World Cup games) and we sort of embrace with them what really happened because they'll be seeing people like me, other people sharing the same story.” For the first time, a lot of people will hear the story of how apartheid came to an end.

It is time.