All the hate, bitterness, and frustration finally came loose. There was an explosion on Wednesday, June 16, 1976. Students protested about all black schools had to learn Afrikaans instead of English. Oh did that trigger people big time. Already people hated learning it in elementary school because it was so hard and most of the people failed in that class. There were about ten thousand people protesting. It was a peaceful and orderly. People were saying, “To Hell with Afrikaans, We don’t want to learn the language of our oppressors, stop feeding us a poisonous education and we want equal education not slave education.” There was a protest rally at Phefani High School, were there was policeman lined up with tear gas and rifles, shotguns and other things. The people stopped before getting at the place and stood there protesting. Suddenly police opened fire. People thought it was fake bullets until they saw small children falling to the floor like swatted flies. There uniform was soaked with red blood. People began running, some tripped and fell and were crushed by people running for their lives. A 13 year-old killed was shot on the forehead and another guy came and carried him to a place that was safe even though the guy that was shot was dying. The guy carrying him had so much anger, hate and defiance and so did the rest of the blacks. When I read all that happened, I also grew hate and anger. I even cried. A few white men died to during the incident. But I still had hate for those who killed the blacks during a peaceful protest. Other students were crying coming from school, and other people cried as people came from work. From reading the newspaper I knew that I would never be the same again. There was a guy who started saying things in disbelief that it actually happened. He said that the policeman started opening fire without any warning. It was like a shoot to kill situation. Small defenseless children were dropping left and right by these horrible people. They murder innocent people. My hatred for blacks began roaring back.
At school the next day, we had an assembly the air was tense, and the moods were somber. The principal said we had to continue with learning. Then some of the students started shouted that there shouldn’t be any school while people are being murdered in Soweto by white people. The students also didn’t want to be forced to learn the Afrikaans decree like the other students who protested. So the school started forming groups to plan a peaceful rally. We painted placards that condemned Bantu Education, Afrikaans, and Apartheid. We demanded that the government stop the killing in Soweto. As we picked up other students from other schools, Police trucks and vans pulled up. The police told us to return home or school but most of us stayed. The police started firing. Tear gas every where. Me and David ran back to school and were told to go home immediately because police were raiding schools. Rebellion broke out almost everywhere.
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