Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
TLDR: Afrikaners in the National Party cut off white immigration even from places like the Netherlands when it was most available ie post WW2 and through the 1950s because of a belief that it would help them retain power (because immigrants were assumed to be more supportive of the British and more liberal in general) then tried to encourage it in the 60s after they realized black fertility was much higher than white fertility but of course this was of limited use since European living standards had recovered after their post WW2 slump.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02582473.2016.1188977
Thank you, that makes more sense. It still leaves the question of why there wasn’t an effort to pitch a still-segregated society to at least some subset of segregationists in the 60’s or 70’s, but it’s possible that limited success with European immigration caused them to think it would be a lost cause.
Afrikaners were very parochial at the time (remember South Africa only made TV legal in 1976) - my father who is American and moved to South Africa in the early 80s for work remembers getting asked if he had met cowboys and Indians by rural Afrikaners despite having grown up in Manhattan lol. I don’t think people being mad about school integration or bussing was really on their radar.
Also South Africa was still poorer than the US - my parents didn’t have a telephone until after I was born for example.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link