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Remembering the true meaning of Youth Day, lest we forget
The true meaning of Youth Day is not just about injustice, but about not allowing our children to suffer the consequences of the bad decisions made by adults.
June 16 will forever be remembered as a day when the youth of the nation protested against an unjust system.
The year was 1976 and tension filled the air with the Bantu Education Act and Government Edict that stipulated Afrikaans be used as a medium of instruction for certain subjects in black schools.
Determined their voices be heard, Soweto school children began marching to Orlando High School.
With thousands of children united as one, their protest took a tragic turn when it turned violent and police officers fired shots into the crowd.
Thousands of people were injured, of which 23 died. Here, Hector Pieterson become the icon of the Soweto Uprising.
The 13-year-old’s tragic last moments were captured in a photograph that portrayed how desperately South Africa needed to change.
Commemorating the Soweto Uprising, or Youth Day as it is now known, is of the utmost importance.
As a nation now united and living as one for the past 21 years, remembering the sacrifices our children made should never be forgotten.
As many celebrate the day off from school and work, let us not forget that without the sacrifices of icons such as Nelson Mandela, the children of Soweto and so many others, we would not be able to reap the rewards of a free South Africa.
