Most similar countries when you think about it, which is why i think for black americans in this country, we have this living memory of apartheid. i came of age in the owe 08s and 90s and i remember conversations in my house with friends and especially in college we had just missed the divestment movement on college campuses. explain what that means. there was movements for colleges with endowments invested in certain companies to divest any companies doing business in south africa. and this went on for years. this was the student movement of the 1980s. college students successfully they won. they successfully got their colleges to divest their investments in any companies that were doing business with south africa. so we have the student divestment on the one hand but let s also give props to the congressional black caucus.
And i can tell with your students, they don t remember apartheid. they re all too young to remember apartheid. what do columbia students and students everywhere need to know about it? they need to know a few things. in some ways apartheid in south africa and in the united states are the major places that ended up being democracies in the world we re actually the most similar countries when you think about it which is why i think for black americans in this country, we have their living memory of apartheid. i came of age in the 80s and 90s, and i remember conversations with friends and especially in college, we had just moved the divestment movement. there was a big movement for colleges with endowments that were invested in various companies to divest any stocks that were doing business in south africa. that went on for years. as joy said, this was the student movement of the 1980s.