Apartheid: Apartheid as an officially structured policy was introduced after the general election of 1948. Legislation classified inhabitants into four racial groups—"black", "white", "colored", and "Indian", the last two of which were divided into several sub-classifications and residential areas were segregated. From 1960 to 1983, 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes, and forced into segregated neighborhoods, in one of the largest mass removals in modern history. Non-white political representation was abolished in 1970, and starting in that year black people were deprived of their citizenship, legally becoming citizens of one of ten tribally based self-governing homelands called bantustans, four of which became nominally independent states. The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services that were often inferior to those of white people.
In an alternative 1982, an alien ship has inexplicably stopped over Johannesburg. When investigation teams enter the ship, they discover a population of sick and malnourished extraterrestrials, identified derogatorily as "prawns". The South African government confines the aliens to "District 9", a government camp that is located outside of Johannesburg. Twenty-eight years later, following periodic conflict between the aliens and the locals living near District 9, the government hires private military company Multinational United (MNU) to relocate the aliens to a new internment. Wikus van de Merwe an Afrikaner bureaucrat, is appointed by Piet Smit (Louis Minnaar), an MNU executive and his father-in-law, to lead the relocation.
Meanwhile, three aliens — Christopher Johnson, his son, and a friend — scavenge pieces of their technology from which they distill a fluid of their native provenance, storing it in a small canister. Wikus confiscates the canister from the shack of Christopher's friend, but accidentally sprays some of the fluid onto his face. Christopher's friend is subsequently killed by Koobus Venter, a sadistic mercenary soldier employed by MNU.
Under the fluid's influence Wikus' body, starting with his injured left arm, begins to deteriorate and become alien tissue. He is immediately detained and transported to MNU headquarters for experimentation, where it is discovered that Wikus' chimeric DNA grants him the ability to use alien weapons- which are biologically restricted to work only for alien users. In light of this discovery, Smit and his scientists decide to vivisect Wikus; but he overpowers them and escapes the facility. Smit orders Venter and his men to hunt Wikus down, while a cover story is published that says Wikus is a fugitive infected by an alien STD. Everyone believes the story, even, for a time, Wikus' wife Tania Smit's daughter.
Wikus finds refuge in District 9 and stumbles into Christopher's shack, where he learns that Christopher is hiding the lost command module of their spacecraft underground. Christopher discloses that the fluid in the canister would allow him to reactivate the command module and in turn, the dormant mothership, in which he claims he can reverse Wikus' mutation. To recover the canister from MNU headquarters, Wikus obtains alien weapons from superstitious Nigerian arms-dealer Obesandjo (Eugene Khumbanyiwa) and his gang, then he and Christopher attack the MNU offices, retrieve the canister, and flee to District 9 with MNU forces in pursuit. Appalled by the illegal experiments on his fellow aliens at MNU headquarters, Christopher decides to get help before curing Wikus, which will take three years. Frustrated, Wikus attacks Christopher and attempts to fly the command module to the mothership, and is almost immediately shot down by Venter and his men. They capture Wikus and Christopher, but Obesandjo's gang intervene and seize Wikus, acting on Obesandjo's belief that eating Wikus' transformed arm will enable him to use alien weaponry. Obesandjo's base is then attacked by MNU.
In the command module, Christopher's son remotely activates the mothership and an alien mechanized battle suit in Obesandjo's base which kills Obesandjo and his men. Wikus takes control of the battle suit and rescues Christopher, who promises to return in three years with a cure for Wikus. Wikus kills all the attacking soldiers before Venter cripples the suit, which ejects Wikus. As he corners Wikus, a group of aliens kill Venter by tearing him apart. The command module with Christopher and his son is lifted into the mothership, and they use it to leave Earth, while Johannesburg's residents celebrate its departure.
A series of interviews and news broadcasts are shown speculating about Wikus' whereabouts and the potential return of Christopher and the spacecraft, and what it may entail. MNU's illegal experiments are exposed by Wikus' friend and assistant Fundiswa (Mandla Gaduka), and District 9 is demolished, with all the aliens removed to the larger District 10. Tania finds a metal flower on her doorstep, giving her hope that Wikus is still alive. The final scene shows a fully transformed Wikus in a junkyard, crafting a similar flower.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaDistrict 9. The title and premise of District 9 were inspired by events in District Six, Cape Town during the apartheid era. Although segregation on a major scale is not part of everyday life anymore, or shouldn't be,discrimination certainly is.Sadly it crosses all races, religions, political affiliations, sexuality, and whether or not you are a woman.
I am a considered a white woman. My maternal Grandparents immigrated from Ireland. My paternal Grandfather was a Cherokee Indian. My Grandmother was white.
In my opinion I should be a White Irish Indian but there isn't a box for that on any form that I've ever seen. Maybe I should start a petition to create a new form with a line that lets you fill in your nationality.
I just got off the phone with my friend Honey. Yes that's her real name. Anyway her Dad was from Romania and she's Jewish. She is also married to a Mexican who immigrated from Mexico. It would be fun to see what her children would list as a nationality.
She told me a funny story that I'd like to share. She was in a department store with one of her girlfriends and her friend Gay called out to her to see where she was. "Honey, where are you?" The man behind her said. "You can't call her honey!". her friend replied, "Yes I can, I'm Gay." How I have wished that I could come up with the perfect comeback such as that was at a time like I had last week at the grocery store.
My husband Lance and I were at our local HEB buying our weekly groceries when I started noticing people moving away from us. Mostly me as when I would step away from Lance to get something from across the way, people would part like the red sea. I honestly thought I might have forgotten my deodorant. I even went to far as to go to the restroom and check my underarms just to make sure. Yep I'd put my deodorant on so it wasn't that. I was washing my hands and I happened to look in the mirror and it dawned on me. I was wearing a scarf.
I'm sad to say that I was a victim of discrimination. All because I was wearing a scarf. A scarf I obtained from TLC aka Tender Loving Care which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society. First of all let me assure you I don't have cancer, I have a thyroid condition that has caused me to lose the majority of my hair. I normally wear a hat which is perfectly acceptable in our society but because I chose to wear a scarf, a winter scarf, I was looked at with sadness, or disdain in equal measures. I'm sure the sadness was for my husband who was shackled to this horror of a woman who dared to cover her head in public with a scarf. I even have wigs but it was sleeting / snowing that day and I wanted to stay somewhat warm therefore I was totally clueless when I left the house that I would be looked down upon because "gasp" I might be a, dare I say it, MUSLIM.
It's funny I never thought about it but I felt like I had a contagious disease even though cancer is not contagious. Alopecia is not contagious. Being a Muslim is not contagious. Being Gay is not contagious. Prejudice is.
The next time you see a woman in a scarf please remember she is someones Wife,Mother, Sister, Aunt, Cousin and friend.Whether she is suffering from Cancer, Hair loss or is a Muslim, she is still a human being and deserves our kindness and understanding. Someday there may actually be aliens among us hopefully we will have moved on from our prejudices toward others but we certainly have a long way to go.
In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as ``homelands.'' These homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the record of origin (which was frequently inaccurate). All political rights, including voting, held by an African were restricted to the designated homeland. The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. The homeland administrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.
- In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as ``homelands.'' These homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the record of origin (which was frequently inaccurate). All political rights, including voting, held by an African were restricted to the designated homeland. The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. The homeland administrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as ``homelands.'' These homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the record of origin (which was frequently inaccurate). All political rights, including voting, held by an African were restricted to the designated homeland. The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. The homeland administrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established a basis for ethnic government in African reserves, known as ``homelands.'' These homelands were independent states to which each African was assigned by the government according to the record of origin (which was frequently inaccurate). All political rights, including voting, held by an African were restricted to the designated homeland. The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands. From 1976 to 1981, four of these homelands were created, denationalizing nine million South Africans. The homeland administrations refused the nominal independence, maintaining pressure for political rights within the country as a whole. Nevertheless, Africans living in the homelands needed passports to enter South Africa: aliens in their own country.
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