Nelson Mandela's greatest legacy to South Africa was his belief in forgiveness and reconciliation among the racially divided population. But has South Africa truly reconciled 20 years after the anniversary of the end of apartheid? VOA's Chris Simkins offers his perspective as a journalist who has covered the U.S.' own struggles for racial harmony and reported from South Africa last year.
I first learned about race in 1970, the year North Carolina de-segregated its schools. My first grade teacher interpreted this to mean that she should put the black children - including me - on one side of the class, and the white children on the other. My mother was outraged. She complained and demanded change. On the very next day, the issue was resolved and for the first time in my life I was sitting next to white students. Just a few years later on the other side of the world, South African children who looked like me were being shot dead by police as they protested an unfair education system.
...