On Sunday, the top US ambassador arrived at Johannesburg’s Lanseria International Airport in South Africa. Secretary of State Antony Blinken started his trip to three African nations.
On the outskirts of Johannesburg, in the Soweto township, he went to the Hector Pieterson memorial. The diplomat placed a wreath at the memorial honoring the student died in 1976 while opposing South Africa’s racist apartheid regime with Antoinette Sithole, the late Hector’s sister.
“Hector’s story is one that really resonates because we have our own struggle for freedom and equality in the United States and South Africa’s story is unique but there are also so many common elements, and that resonates powerfully,” Blinken said.
The museum, according to Sithole, who also took part in the student demonstrations of 1976, emphasizes the importance played by South Africa’s young in ending the dominance of the white minority in the nation.
“The museum is a reminder for generations to come. We must know where we come from and where we are going, and don’t forget that the youth took a stand for us to be better today,” she commented.
Monday, Blinken will meet with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor and give a speech at the University of Pretoria on American sub-Saharan policy. He will then travel to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
