Hector Pieterson: An Iconic Symbol of the Apartheid

The Apartheid was a period of extreme segregation in South Africa beginning in 1948 and lasting until 1994. The word “Apartheid” translates literally to “the state of being separate”. During the Apartheid, citizens of South Africa were placed into one of four major groups: Black, White, Coloured or Indian, with the ‘Coloured’ and ‘Indian’ groups having many subdivision. South Aftica’s ruling party during this time, the National Party (NP), created laws to support a long-time goal of the NP; To discriminate against the black majority and give the white minority superiority. These laws banned the black population from doing business, living or owning land in ‘white’ areas. From 1960 -1983, 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated areas. They had no right to citizenship and instead became citizens of one of the ten self-governing ‘Bantustans’. The division of the Bantustans was tribal-based. This forced segregation and relocation is one of the largest mass-removals in modern history. Interracial marriage was criminalized during the Apartheid and in 1970, legislation was passed which prohibited any political representation for the Black population. Resistance grew in the 1960s as many Black citizens were arrested, beaten and killed while peacefully protesting Apartheid policies. In 1953 the ‘Bantu Education Act’ was passed, enraging many South Africans. As used in ‘Bantu Education Act’, “Bantu” is considered to be a highly inflammatory word having derogatory connotations against indigenous peoples of central or southern Africa who speak a ‘Bantu’, or Niger-Congo language. [In modern times “Bantu” is used as a neutral term for the various African languages of South Africa when speaking in generalizations] The Bantu Education Act required all South African students to learn the Afrikaan language regardless of their local language. Half of exams for students after elementary/early primary school would be written in Afrikaan. Being the language of leaders of the National Party, it was viewed by non-white citizens as the language of their oppressor. The Bantu Education Act prompted the beginning of many anti-Apartheid political movements and organizations including the South African Students Organization (SASO). During this time the Black Conciousness Movement (BCM) became more prominent in South Africa, as well.
Tensions caused by the Apartheid and the NP’s imposing of the Afrikaan language on South Africa’s youth rose to a climax on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Uprising. Between 3,000 – 10,000 students (some modern estimates believe the crowd may have grown to as many as 20,000) participated in a peaceful protest organized by the South African Student’s Movement Action Comittee and supported by the Black Conciousness Movement. They gathered in Soweto, Johannesburg, carrying protest signs reading ‘Bantu Education- to Hell with it’ and ‘Down with Afrikaans’ while singing freedom songs. Many than began the march which would end at Orlando Soccer Stadium where there was scheduled to be a peaceful protest. Approximately fifty police officers halted protesters marching towards the stadium and told them to turn back but they refused. Police dispersed tear gas into the crowd and fired warning shots before opening fire into the crowd. Many ran for cover, others held their ground and began throwing stones at police in retaliation.

 

Only known photo of Hastings Ndlovu

Fifteen year old Hastings Ndlovu was shot in the head by police and died after arriving at a nearby clinic. Hastings’s parents, brother and three sisters left Johannesburg shortly after his death but returned a few years later. His former home located at 7235 Thabete Street in Soweto, Johannesburg was marked with a blue plaque on June 16, 2012 in memorial of the boy. Thirteen year old Hector Pieterson was shot by police on the corner of Moema and Vilakazi Streets near Orlando West High School.

 

 

Foreground, left to right: Antoinette Sithole and Mbuyisa Makhubo carrying Hector Peterson

A fellow student, 18-year-old Mbuyisa Makhubo, picked Hector off the ground and began running to get him into the car of news photographer Sam Nzima. Nzima snapped a photo of Makhubo carrying Hector Pieterson as Hector’s 17-year-old sister,  Antoinette Sithole ran alongside them.

 

 

Makhubo placing thirteen year old Hector Pieterson into Nzima’s car

Hector was placed into Sam Nzima’s car and driven by journalist Sophie Tema to a nearby clinic where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. What had begun in Soweto quickly spread across the nation of South Africa. By the end of the day on June 16, 1976 the government reported 23 deaths including two white police officers who were either beaten or stoned to death by the crowd. By the end of June 1976 the numbers had risen to 176 killed and thousands more injured, but modern estimates suggest approximately 700 people were killed in total; The Soweto Uprising had a major impact on South Africa’s socio-political landscape.

 

 

Sam Nzima’s iconic photo of Hector Pierterson. [Originally “Pitso”, the family adopted the surname “Pieterson” to pass as ‘Coloured’. During the Apartheid, ‘Coloured’ citizens received more privileges than ‘Black’ citizens.

 Sam Nzima’s photo went on to become a famous symbol of the movement forcing him and Mbuyisa Makhubo to go into hiding due to extreme harassment by police and members of the National Party. On August 21, 1976 Mbuyisa Makhubo said he was going to Durbam. He then told his mother he was “tired of running” and illegally crossed the border to Botswana to escape the hostile environment in South Africa. While in Botswana, he had a son, Thato, with Keneilwe Mokgele. The last time his mother had any form of contact with Mbuyisa was in 1978 when he sent he a letter from Nigeria. He wrote that he had “every sickness in the book” and was unhappy in Nigeria. He said he wanted to walk to Jamaica. His family stated they got the impression from his letter he was mentally unwell at the time. Mbuyisa’s mother, Nombulelo, died in 2002 assuming her son was imprisoned or dead, having only heard from him once in the 26 years since he went into hiding. On Feburary 11, 2014, Mbuyisa’s younger brother, Raul, received photos and information on a man who had been living in Canada since 1988 under the name “Victor Vinnetou”.

 

“Victor Vinnetou”, believed to be Mbuyisa Makhubo, the student who carried Hector Pieterson.

“Victor” had been detained in Canada since August 10, 2004 for being found living in the country without citizenship or proper documentation. After uncovering “Victor Vinnetou”‘s past experiences matched those of Mbuyisa Makhubo from speaking about his experiences on June 16th to knowing specific details about the Makhubo’s family home in South Africa. The man was also found to have a moon-shaped birthmark on the left side of his chest which indicated to his living relatives “Victor” was in fact, Mbuyisa Makhubo. Following this discovery, the Department of Arts and Culture began working to bring Mbuyisa home to South Africa; However, after performing a DNA test, the results were found to be “inconclusive”. Raul said he was told by Paul Mashatile, the Minister of The Department of Arts and Culture at that time that the “inconclusive” results were announced as a way to buy more time for Mbuyisa to repatriate. Obviously, this is an incredibly emotional process for Mbuyisa Makhubo’s family and due to partial paralysis from a stroke in 2013 and being diabetic, Raul has not been involved in the process of bringing Mbuyisa back to South Africa since his initial involvement. Instead, Mbuyisa’s oldest sister, Nontsikelelo has taken over the process and is trying to reach out to the nation of France on behalf of the family to receive the assistance they need to retrieve Mbuyisa from Canada. The family is working to raise money to finally meet “Victor Vinnetou” in person and confirm his suspected identity. They plan to appeal to both the Canadian and South African governments to bring their long-lost brother home.
Both Hector Pieterson and Hastings Ndlovu were buried in the Avalon Cemetery in Soweto, Johannesburg. The Apartheid ended in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became the first black President of South Africa and the National Party’s rule ended. Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for his role as a leader in the anti-Apartheid movement worked once again to eradicate the unjust laws put into place by the National Party once released from prison in 1990. Today in South Africa, June 16th is observed as ‘National Youth Day’, a day when the country honors young people and sheds light on the needs of students’.

 On June 16, 2015, the 39th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, school children remembered the sacrifices made by Hector Pieterson, Hastings Ndlovu and other young protesters in 1976 by staging a reenactment of the bloody and pivotal day in South African history.

The following video features Antoinette Sithole discussing the events of June 16, 1976 and offers additional information on the death of Hector Pieterson.

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Dying with Dignity: One Woman’s Willful Journey into Death

The following video documents the final days of a woman who opted for physician-assisted suicide in 2010. Seventy-four year old Michele Causse Deriaz, a resident of Toulouse, France traveled to Switzerland with her partner and a friend in order to die on the day of her birth, July 29th. Michele’s story is very intriguing; She speaks bluntly, even joyfully, on the subject of her death and has strong yet simple views on the topic of Dying with Dignity. Michele volunteered for cameras to follow her in the days leading to her scheduled death and to be present as she chose to take a lethal dose of pentobarbital, prescribed by her end of life physician. She hoped that by participating in the documentary, physician-assisted suicide would be a more available option for others like her who wish to end their life. On the day before her death she left a message for viewers, “Let me say before dying that people really cherish life… I have to be really suffering to leave it; I wanted to live just like everyone else… There won’t be crowds of people lining up to die. The few who wish to die will certainly have good reasons.”

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7,759 People Confirmed Dead in Nepal Earthquake

 On Saturday, April 26, 2015 shortly before noon (local time) Nepal and its bordering countries suffered a 7.8 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter just 50 miles northwest of Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu. It was classified as a IX violent earthquake and lasted approximately 20 seconds,

 Thus far, 7,759 deaths have been confirmed, with 1,209 in Kathmandu alone; 3,000 deaths were reported in Sindupalchowk, the district of Nepal which suffered the most damage. In addition to the 7,652 deaths reported in Nepal, 78 died in India, 25 in China and 4 in Bangladesh. There were a total of 80 foreign casualties in Nepal from the countries of India, France, China, Germany, Italy, The United States, Canada, Russia, Australia, Estonia, The United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zeland and Spain. Due to the seismic activity, Mount Everest experienced avalanches on Saturday which killed 19 people and made April 26, 2015 the most deadly day on Mt. Everest in history. Bodies of the deceased were able to be recovered by helicopters from base camps.

 A powerful aftershock occurred in the region on Sunday, which could be felt in Nepal, India and Bangladesh and led to more avalanches atop Mt. Everest. Twenty-nine districts throughout the area have been declared crisis zones and approximately 900 of the 1,000 homes in the Nepal villages of Laprak and Barpak were completely destroyed.

The Dharara Tower, a landmark which was constructed during the 19th century by rulers of Nepal, was also reduced to rubble by the earthquake, killing at least 180 people who were inside or nearby the tower when the earthquake struck. Many centuries-old building were destroyed, including several temples and churches which collapsed, killing those inside.

While rescue workers did all they could, many living and inured citizens remained trapped beneath crumbled buildings for several days. Rescue workers found survivors buried in the rubble as long as one week after the initial earthquake. Four men who were trapped beneath close to 10 feet (3 meters) of debris for several days were found alive thanks to new NASA technology known as ‘FINDER’, a heartbeat detection device. It is capable of detecting a human heartbeat through as much as 30 feet (9 meters) of rubble, 20 feet (7 meters) of concrete or 100 feet (30 meters) of open space.

  Countless have been left homeless in the wake of this natural disaster and are seeking shelter in refugee camps.

In the immediate aftermath, corpses were left lying on the street, covered by sheets, waiting to be identified or placed onto ferries traveling to hospitals in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, these hospitals struggled to keep up with both caring for the injured, and housing victims’ bodies.

Helicopters managed to retrieve injured climbers on Mount Everest that were able to make it to a base camp. Several roads paved across the base of the mountain have either cracked open or were buried in the avalanche and made routes impassable for rescue personnel. The April 2015 earthquake caused the most devastation this region has experienced since the Bihar-Nepal Earthquake in 1934 which killed 8,500 people.

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Germanwings Crash: Andreas Lubitz Suicide was a Mere Side Effect to the Murder of 149 People

On the morning of March 24, 2015 Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 departed from Barcelona, Spain 20 minutes behind schedule. Pilot Patrick Sondenheimer apologized for the delay, telling passengers they would try to make up the time in the air. Unfortunately, the plane never made it to its destination of Düsseldorf. Instead, when suicidal co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz took his life that day, he took the lives of 149 innocent passengers and crew with him. In a pre-meditated aircraft-assisted suicide, Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and flew the Airbus 320 into the French Alps near Seyne-les-Alpes. Due to the discovery of a voice recorder from the plane, the one and a half hours leading to the fatal crash were caught on tape, revealing to the world the chaos and horror that ensued in the minutes leading to the deaths of everyone aboard. Before take-off, pilot Patrick Sondenheimer mentioned to Andreas Lubitz that he hadn’t had time to use the restroom in Barcelona to which Lubitz replies he can “go anytime”. For the first 20 minutes of the flight, the tone of the conversation between pilot Sondenheimer and co-pilot Lubitz is described as “jovial”. At 10:27am, local time, they reach their cruising altitude of 38,000 feet and Captain Sondenheimer asked Andreas Lubitz to prepare for landing. After this, Lubitz repeats to the pilot, “You can go now.”, a seat moving is then heard on the tape and the pilot responds to his co-pilot with, “You can take over.”. Shortly after this, at 10:29am the air traffic radar detects the plane is beginning to descend. Air traffic control contacted Flight 9525 at 10:32am but received no answer. At this point, an alarm goes off in the cockpit which can be heard in the background warning “sink rate”. Immediately after the alarm sounds, loud banging can he heard on the door of the cockpit. It is Captain Sondenheimer, who then screams, “For God’s sake, open the door!” as passengers also begin to scream for their lives in the background. By 10:35am a metallic banging is heard which is the pilot attempting to break down the door to the cockpit with an axe. At this time, the plane had descended to 23,000 feet, only 90 seconds later, the plane is at 16,400 feet and a second alarm sounds in the cock pit warning, “terrain–pull up!”. The captain screams at Lubitz again commanding him to, “Open the dammed door!”. By 10:38am the co-pilot in the cockpit can be heard breathing steadily, from this we know he was alive and conscious throughout the entire ordeal. The plane had descended to 13,100 feet at this point and at 10:40am, with passengers still screaming, the plane’s right wing is heard scrapping the top of the French Alps just before the tape cuts off and the plane crashes into the mountain, presumably killing all onboard at impact. Since the crash, it has been discovered tha 27 year old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had suffered a history of severe depression and had sought help from at least three different doctors regarding his psychological illness between Feburary 2015 and the March 24th Germanwings crash. An iPad seized from Lubitz’s apartment revealed he had searched the Internet for information on how to commit suicide and security measures for cockpit doors in the days leading up to the crash. In his garbage, investigators found multiple physicians’ notes excusing him from work including one for the day of the fatal aircraft crash. His 26 year old girlfriend, Kathrin Goldbach, who was aware of his psychological illness and history or depression claims she, “did not know the extent of the problems” and was “optomistic” about their ability to work through them in their relationship. Goldbach, who met her late boyfriend as a teenager when they worked together at a fast food chain is now afraid to return to her and Lubitz’s hometown of Montabaur. Goldbach is afraid of the backlash she may face there due to Andreas Lubitz’s responsibility in the death of 149 innocent people on Germanwings Flight 9525. According to her pupils, Kathrun Goldbach had recently informed them she is pregnant (presumably with Andreas Lubitz’s child) though she has understandably not mentioned this to the media. It was also revealed Lubitz may have been suffering from a condition which would have eventually led to blindness and that it may have played a key role in his decision to end his life. He had recently visited specialists regarding his failing eyesight which obviously would have caused him to be stripped of his pilot’s license. Due to German law, doctors are forbidden from revealing patient information to employers therefore, the decision to inform Germanwings of a history of depression was entirely Lubitz’s decision. According to the flight school Andreas Lubitz attended, he did make note of a period of severe depression he had experienced. He began flight school in 2008 and joined the Germanwings company in 2013 as a first officer. However, 6 years ago his training was interrupted for unspecified reasons, presumably psychological illness. Lubitz had received over 630 hours of flying time and Germanwings claims he had undergone an “extensive psychological review”. In other reports however, Germanwings has asserted their pilots psychological testing is NOT carried out by professionals in the field of psychology, but instead general practitioners during the pilot’s yearly medical assessment and aviation review. Following the crash, Germanwings spoke out on Twitter saying, “We are shocked by the statements from French authorities that the co-pilot deliberately crashed the aircraft.”. The CEO of Lufthanasa, the company that owns Germanwings later remarked, “We have to accept that the plane was crashed on purpose… It seems true that the co-pilot denied the pilot access to the cockpit.”. Lufthansa has set aside 203 million pounds to “deal with” the crash and victims’ families. Germanwings has instructed pilots to now greet each passenger during boarding and give a pre-flight speech assuring their safety in an effort to make up for their lack of concern regarding the mental state of their employees. Brice Robin, French prosecutor assigned to the criminal investigation of the Germanwings crash stated Lubitz’s intent was to “destroy the plane” and that, “If a human takes 149 people to death with him, I will not call that suicide.”. France’s B.E.A. or The French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau (Bureau d’Enquêtes sur les Accidents de Transport Terrestre) found from analyzing data on the flight recorder that Lubitz used autopilot to descend the plane and, “several times during the course of the descent, the pilot [Andreas Lubitz in this case] adjusted the automatic pilot so as to increase the speed of the plane as it descended.”. The French magazine Paris Match and german tabloid Bild claim a 15 second video shot from the back of the plane just before the crash was recently discovered. While investigators deny such a video exists, it is possible they are required to deny its existence at this time due to the investigation still being open. Co-editor and Chief of The Paris Match, Regis Lessommier claims he’s seen the video and says it’s one of the most disturbing things he’s ever seen. The publication reported, “The scene was so chaotic that it was hard to identify people, but the sounds of the screaming passengers made it perfectly clear that they were aware of what was about to happen to them.” The crash killed citizens of Germany, Spain, America, Australia, Argentina, Iran, Venezuela, Britain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Israel and possibly more countries whose deceased have yet to be named. Included in those killed were 16 German high school students returning from a Spanish-language exchange program and Yvonne and Emily Selke, a mother and daughter from America. Emily Selke had recently graduated from Drexel University with honors. As of now, 470 personal items have been recovered from the crash site as well as 40 badly damaged cell phones. Extreme conditions in the crash site location has made recovery efforts difficult and more evidence is sure to be uncovered in the following months. As someone who has struggled with severe depression for years and lost many friends to suicide, I am sympathetic to the plight of people like Andreas Lubitz. It is painfully clear the entire world needs to make more of an effort to help those with psychological illnesses and finally realize that considering depression and suicide as “taboo” in today’s day and age is flagrantly archaic. That being said, in this particular case, I feel no sympathy for Andreas Lubitz’s suicide; Only those he drug to the grave with him against their will. Andreas Lubitz is a murderer who killed 149 innocent people, including minors in his method of ending his own life. This man, who ignored the screams and pleas of 149 people as he flew the plane directly into the French Alps is no better than any callous killer who eventually resorts to suicide. His ex, who wished to only be known as Maria W. says Andreas Lubitz once stated, “One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember.”. Perhaps the best thing we can do to honor the memory of those who died that day against their will is to make changes to the whole system of mental health and airline safety on their behalf, not that of mass murderer Andreas Lubitz.
Germany has scheduled a national day of mourning for Germanwings crash victims on April 17, 2015. Some of the victims’ profiles are available on The New York Times website.
More details on the story as they become available.
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Is “Kicking the Bucket” For Catholics Only?

The phrase, “Kick the Bucket” was first mentioned in The Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue, published in 1785, and defines it as simply meaning, “To die.”. This idiom, which may imply a hanging death either by one’s own hand or execution is of unknown origin, though there are many theories on what spawned the widespread use of this popular saying.
Again in 1823, the phrase was published, this time in John Badcock’s Slang Dictionary along with a brief, plausible explanation: “One Bolsover having hung himself from a beam while standing on a pail, or bucket, kicked the vessel away in order to pry into futurity and it was all UP with him from that moment: Finis.” This anecdote about a Bolsover (Bolsover is a town in England, in this instance the word is used to describe a resident of Bolsover) hanging himself with the aid of a bucket may be the actual origin story of the phrase, or just an early example of an incredibly crass and morbid joke. Either way, it would make perfect sense to most that the term, “Kicking the Bucket” would come from a person dying at the end of a noose once a bucket is removed, or kicked out from underneath them. However, many more obscure explanations have been offered up over the years.
Alternatively, in past centuries, the word “bucket” has been used interchangeably with the words “beam” and “yolk”, therefore, it is speculated that the saying refers to the “beam” or “bucket” on which pigs are hung to be slaughtered. In this instance, “Kick the Bucket” would describe the struggling, suspended pigs kicking the beam they are hung on before death.
It could even date as far back as the 16th century, to a Latin Proverb known as ‘Capra Scyrica’. Found in the Emblemata, a collection of Latin Proverbs published by Italian writer and jurist Alciati in 1524, ‘Capra Scyrica’ reads, “Because you have spoilt your fine beginnings with a shameful end and turned your service into harm, you have done what the she-goat does when she kicks the bucket that holds her milk and with her hoof squanders her own riches.”. This, of course, is a more metaphorical interpretation regarding the death of one’s reputation, as opposed to one’s actual demise; However, it is possible the phrase did arise from a less literal origin.
Catholics insist this phrase came from their religion’s traditional use of holy water buckets, postmortem. In Relics of Poetry, The Right Reverend Abbot Horne explains, ” After death, when a body has been laid out… the holy water bucket was brought to the church and put at the feet of the corpse. When friends came to pray… they would sprinkle the body with holy water.” As you may already know, when people die, their muscles relax completely which would inevitably cause them to stretch out their legs. Reverend Horne confidentially asserted, “It is easy to see how such a saying as “Kicking the Bucket” came about. Many other explanations of this saying have been given by persons who are unacquainted with Catholic custom.”

From the same demented mind that brought you The Post-Mortem Post: FREAK