“You know, of course when you are young, you are not scared of anything.”

-Queen

On June 16, 1976, the Soweto Uprising began. Queen, along with an estimated 20,000 other students, marched down the streets of Soweto with handwritten placards to protest new school policies. These new policies enforced Afrikaans as the official medium of instruction. Very few black South Africans understood Afrikaans, as it was a primarily white-spoken language. Thus, these new policies would keep black South Africans from furthering their education and being able to compete with white South Africans in a job market.

Parents and teachers initially took action to try to call off these new policies, explaining to the government that young students should not be set up to fail or punished based on racial politics. Children were told to refrain from any involvement. They were reminded that when Nelson Mandela protested and got involved, he was sent to prison. However, when these attempts failed, the students pushed forward.

They began meeting in secret, devising a plan to have their voices heard. On the morning of June 16, 1976, thousands of students marched the streets of Soweto. Queen recalls quietly making her placard the night before, against her parents’ wishes. During the march to Orlando Stadium, police met the students with heavy force, shooting tear gas and rubber bullets and eventually opening fire on the young children. It is estimated that over 176 students were killed that day.

The Soweto Uprising prompted several marches and riots in response to the egregious force used to threaten, injure, and kill young children. All of these demonstrations allowed the South African Apartheid to be internationally condemned and for action to be taken to rid the country of such unjust racial segregation. Queen expressed the power in all of the children who participated in that march, remarking that young children are not scared to stand up for what’s right.