Friday, June 16, 2017
6pm
Sistas’ Place,
456 Nostrand Ave. off Jefferson Ave.
Brooklyn, NY – see map
Film and Program to Commemorate Soweto Day – South African Youth Uprising on June 16, 1976
Featuring:
IMPACT Repertory Theatre Group
Black Zeus (Mandela Brathwaite)
Rashad Wright, Spoken Word
Soweto Day Youth Uprising
The June 16, 1976, Uprising that began in Soweto and spread countrywide profoundly changed the socio-political landscape in South Africa. The Apartheid government made the Afrikaans language compulsory as a medium of instruction in schools in 1974 and Black students began mobilizing themselves. On 16 June 1976 10,000 students marched peacefully to protest against the government’s directive. The march was meant to culminate at a rally in Orlando Stadium.On their pathway, they were met by heavily armed police who fired tear gas and live ammunition on demonstrating students. This resulted in a widespread revolt that turned from a local Soweto event into a nationwide uprising against the government. Images of the police firing on peacefully demonstrating students led an international revulsion against the South African government and strengthened grassroots liberation movements in the struggle against Apartheid. http://sahistory.org.za