We will never give up the fight for racial equality

How long will people of colour face oppression? While heinous systems such as colonialism and segregation have been abolished, people still face injustices across the world. But the fight for equality will never be relinquished. Omar Badsha, Albie Sachs and Yugen Blakrok are three leaders championing freedom. They’re not only rewriting the course of history, but creating a movement for the future.

As a white lawyer in apartheid South Africa, Albie Sachs used his profession to strive for justice. “There were many white people who felt, ‘What the heck are you doing fighting for black people?’” Sachs says. But the advocate stood by his beliefs. Exiled for his activism, he had a target placed on his back while living in Mozambique. “My car had a bomb put in it and I was blown up,” Sachs says. Despite losing an arm and vision in his left eye, he maintained his determination. Sachs returned to South Africa, and went on to help write the new democratic constitution enshrining equality for all races.

In the years prior to the country’s liberation, photographer Omar Badsha battled against censorship and repression. His book Letter to Farzanah, which portrayed people of colour under white rule, was banned for years. “We came out of a society where our history was actually erased, not recognised,” Badsha says. “But we turned it around during the anti-apartheid struggle.” Today, he accurately represents the past through the archives of South African History Online, while inspiring people to continue driving the cause. 

Hip-hop artist Yugen Blakrok is steering a new era of upliftment for people of colour. Creating music under the genre of Afrofuturism, she depicts black people through an empowering lens, challenging narratives of a primitive Africa. “There seems to be a struggle for authenticity,” Blakrok says. “We need lyrics that portray our conditions.” Infusing her words with dynamic beats, she’s spreading a message of pride to the masses.

Every human being has the right to freedom. Sachs, Badsha and Blakrok are bastions in the fight for justice. Following in the footsteps of these leaders, we can create a society where we are all equal.