Today I had an eye-opening visit to the District Six Museum. District Six is a community in Cape Town’s city center that the government began to demolish during in the 1960s. As a result, more than 60,000 people lost their homes and were forced to relocate to segregated townships on the outskirts of the city. In some cases, these townships were 20 miles away from where residents lived and worked.

The ‘official’ reason the Nationalist government gave for forcibly removing the people of District Six was: it was a slum fit only for clearance. The actual reason, was that the area had been declared a ‘whites only’ area. I learned a bit about this from Dr. Kani at the Apartheid Museum when he spoke about how the creation of ‘white areas’ forced black residents living in cities to move to townships. These forced removals happened across South Africa, uprooting millions of people from their homes.

At the museum, we were met by Noor Ebrahim. Noor used to live in the area before his home was demolished and he was relocated with his family. He is also a founder of the museum. Noor gave us the history of the area as well as sharing his own personal story with us.

We learned that District Six was known as a lively and artistic community made up of not only coloured residents (Noor told us that is was classified as a ‘coloured area’), but many people from diverse backgrounds, religions, and nationalities.

The museum floor is covered with a large map with handwritten notes from former residents. The signatures indicate where their homes had once been; Noor pointed out his. Noor informed us that the city is redeveloping District Six and former residents are starting to move back in. He hopes that he soon will be able to return to his home community.

The museum was a moving and worthy tribute to the people of District Six and displaced people around the world. Wandering the museum and looking at the collections of family photographs, old street signs, and other personal items (many donated by former residents) made me think about my own home and those around the world that have been forced from their homes either by oppression or natural disaster.

Part I: History of District Six & Forced Removals	Part II: Moving Back to District Six

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