There were random stops to make sure blacks were carrying their mandated ‘passes’ and any question of authenticity led to severe beatings and arrests.
As I lay awake at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013, watching the memorial services for Nelson Mandela, a/k/a Madiba, my mind raced back involuntarily to the memories of my 19 years growing up in Johannesburg during apartheid. For the first time in 66 years I felt the weight of the guilt somewhat lift from my youthful past, having witnessed first hand the despicable, violent and oppressive policies of the white minority, outnumbered four to one, over their black “servants.”
