Singapore-Reasons of Success

Singapore can be regarded as a success now, even though there were incidents, such as the escape of terrorist Mas Selamat or the increase of crimes these years, affect the country’s image in a negative way. However, most of us take these successes for granted and think that all these were what our forefathers should do.

Singapore, from a mere Third-World country in the 1960s to a famous First-World country in 1990s is not an easy feat. Also, being the pioneers to host The Formula One Night Race and the Youth Olympic Games is certainly not by luck. Singapore legalized casinos and this means that Singapore’s society put behind these traditional values and transformed into a vibrant environment.

But do we achieve all these by sheer luck? No and our Minister Mentor will tell us more…
Our minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave a speech at the post-National dinner in his Tanjong-Pagar constituency regarding the reasons of the Singapore’s successes. Being father of Singapore, his opinions is by far the most reliable as he witnessed the young country growing into a world-class economy. He said that the four factors leading to Singapore’s successes are ‘Capable leaders’, ‘meritocracy’, ‘a level playing field’ and ‘the use of English as a working language’.

In my own opinion, the other factor is multi-racial Singapore, where there are equal rights for each races. Unlike Malaysia which is a racist country, the Chinese especially do not get to enjoy several privileges and the leaders are mostly Muslims. However, in democratic Singapore, capable men are the country’s leaders and they are made up of different religions.

The other factor, ‘Capable leaders’ is the biggest contributing factor as Singapore has undergone big changes under the leadership of PAP. One major change will be Singapore’s welcoming attitude to attract foreign talents to reside here. PAP has always been considering old policies and amend them if they are too traditional or deemed unfeasible.

No doubt it is not easy for Singapore to come this far and we should not take this for granted. Instead, why not try improve Singapore as a better society by doing your part as a citizen?

Violence Incidents during Sports Competitions in Singapore

This shall be the fourth post and shall be the last post I will post today. I will talk about the several brawls that happened during the sports competition in Singapore and the ways to curb this problem.

I was shocked and appalled when I got to know of the brawl between ACS (I) and St Andrew school. I cannot imagine this happened to such prominent schools in Singapore as they are thought to be both intelligent and morally stable.

Because of the immense pressure faced by the school and parents to win the match, players nowadays are fixated on medals and only have the “must-win” mentality in their minds. They do not care about the sportsmanship values that they should possess during their competitions. They think that by winning these matches, their school and parents will feel proud for them and favour them more. However, they are totally wrong as I feel that win or lose does not matter in the game, instead the important part is where players get to learn from setbacks, sportsmanship values and know more friends. There are several violent incidents such as the Judo Finals involving St Joseph Institution which caused a Judoka to be sent to the hospital ICU. From here, we can infer that most of the Singapore players lack sportsmanship values as they cannot respect themselves.

I do understand that teacher-coaches do not play a great part in teaching their teams hard skills because of their busy curriculum schedule. Thus, the external coach does most of the teaching and he may not concentrate on teaching them the correct sports values that the players must possess on the arena. The external coaches only care about the teams winning the matches because when the teams win, it means higher salaries for them. But so what if the sports team get the medals, do they end up with the right set of values eventually? No, they do not.

I feel that teacher-coaches are in the best position to inculcate values of sportsmanship to their players, rather than external coaches who only focus on the teams’ hard skills. To achieve this, rules and regulations are not the best way because this will prevent the players from failing on their own and the true objectives for learning these sports values. Of course, some rules must be implemented, such as no fighting on the arena so that accidents can be prevented. Implementing rules like caning the players if they act violently are compulsory during the competitions. The best way to impart real sports values to them is by teaching these players, just like how classroom teaching is done in schools. We should explain to them the importance of sportsman ship so that they can practice it on the arena.

Another case study will be the players in India. Most of the Indian players will touch the arena ground with their hands before they start competing so as to show respect and give the assurance that they will practice sportsmanship during the match. I am not saying that Singapore players have to do the same thing as the Indians, but at least they should show respect to themselves and also to their opponents. By respecting the opponents, violent incidents and strained relationships will not occur. Also, our national youth soccer team is made up of players from different schools, and this shows that players from different schools can still be friends after their match, and not enemies like the ACSI and St Andrew players.

Being the teacher-coaches for school players, they not only have to teach them the hard skills used on the arena, we also have to teach them moral values that can last them their lives. As said by a retired coach in a news report, coaching players is a full-time job as we have to teach the players both physically and mentally.

In conclusion, sportsmanship is essential for the game to be carried out smoothly. If the Youth Olympic Games participants do not posses these values, do you still think the event will run smoothly? Hence, to train our players for international competitions, we need to impart the hard and soft skills to them. For this, teacher-coaches play the most important part.

The YOG Spirit

This is the fourth post for term 3.

Last Tuesday, the whole school gathered at Kah Kee Drive to witness the “YOG torch relay”. We expected the torch relay to be very grand and majestic, like having the police escorting the torchbearer and the media.

However, we were all wrong as the torch relay was only less than five minutes when a not-so-famous man walked to the clock tower carrying a torch. Can you believe it? We waited for about two hours just to see this “spectacular” torch relay that will “goes down into the Olympic history”. If what the government said was true, I can only say that the Olympics’ efforts has gone to waste. Well, all these were my thoughts during the two hours!

You can’t blame someone who stood under the sun for two hours to say all these. The whole school, like me, was quite angry over this incident as we were merely ‘cheerleaders’ who couldn’t catch a glimpse on the performances put up by our school. However, this was a ‘slack’ period for us and also a study break as we got to chat with our friends. Also, what pissed me off was not the long waiting under the burning sun; it was the propaganda the media instilled in us. Upon seeing us sweating and grumbling, several cameramen told us to smile and be happy as they said “Guys, smile! Be happy for Singapore!” before they started filming us. What hypocrites! From here, I can infer that the torch relay we see in the TV is ‘false’ and ‘hypocritical’.

Mr Balan changed the class’s mindset after giving us an impromptu lecture on the road. Being an inspiring teacher, I could remember his words vividly. He understood our plight and he said, “The school has its reasons for doing this. But what really is the main aim for standing under the hot sun doing all these? Can you write me an essay on this and submit to me by Friday?” Firstly, he was witty (haha!) as his move meant more homework for us! Secondly, I thought through his words, about the real aim of the YOG-a small-scale event, compared to the Olympics.

I know that everything that the school does has its aims and rationales. But what really is the rationale to waiting under the hot sun to witness the torch relay? Is it to tell the world that Singaporeans are enthusiastic about this upcoming YOG? Or is it to let us witness the event that will goes down into history? Yes, all these are some of the reasons but the main reason is that we are Singaporeans.

Every countryman supports his country’s actions in whatever she is doing, just like the Germans supporting Hitler’s ‘immoral’ actions. Now that Singapore has managed to get a chance to host the first YOG, don’t you think we should feel proud of her as she is only a ‘small red dot’? Although YOG is a small-scale event that caters only to the youths, Singapore has made a big step by being able to host it. Countries like Malaysia and Indonesia do not get a chance. Since this is the first time Singapore hosts this sports event, it is normal to witness some hiccups, just like the torch relay. In the Olympics, the torch is considered to be holy as it is blessed by the Greek Gods. That is why Singapore should publicise the torch relay to the public as I believe not all of us know what is going on.

In a nutshell, we should support Youth Olympics as it is hosted by our dear Singapore. No matter how many mistakes is made during this event, YOG is still hosted by Singapore.

National Day Celebrations

This is the second post for Term 3 and it was posted 30 minutes after the first post!

National Day Celebration happens annually but all the concerts or parades are somehow similar. They always consist of performances, singing sessions and marching parades. Even in the

National Day Parade held in Padang this year, the 3 hours-long parade is a special one to me as that was the first time I saw the NDP being held in the Padang.

Now let’s get back to topic. What is the rationale behind all these similar parades and concerts? Well, in a school’s context, the main aim to instill the patriotic spirit in the students so that we “may better serve our country” (evidence from the National Pledge). And in the country’s context, the aim is to tell the world that Singaporeans are united, strong and posses a powerful patriotic spirit that celebrates the independence of Singapore.

I will talk about my experiences and feelings for the NDP@HCI and NDP@Padang.

Since Singapore is the 'mother' of Hwa Chong, I shall discuss about the NDP@Padang first. There were all the same stuff, such as the parade, marchpast of Singapore’s military, performances by several organizations and the singing sessions by Singapore-born stars. I watched the NDP on Channel 5 and my friends initially planned for an outing at the Marina Barrage so that they can watch the beautiful fireworks at night. However, I backed out as I had a lot of studies to catch up on and partly due to the fact that Marina Bay area will be thronged with thousands of people. Sure enough, they called me at midnight to tell me that they are still on the train going back home and I laughed like a mad horse on steroids! As a NCC cadet, I liked the parade most as I can witness the standards of marching by the several contingents. The NCC contingent’s marching was 100 hundred times worst than our school’s as they could not hold the rifle properly. I somehow feel they are a disgrace to NCC as NCC is known for their marching among the uniformed-groups.

There were a few singing performances by Singapore Idols like Sezari, and the 2010 Theme Song singer Corrinne May. I feel that this year’s theme song is much sentimental and soothing, compared to the previous ones. The performance depicting the army in the future is performed by the Singapore Armed Forces. The performers were dressed like superheroes and the spectators will be shocked to see this performance as the arm is thought to be serious and strict.
Now is about the NDP@HCI. The Organising Team of this event did a good job as the school seemed enthusiastic and interested during the concert, which is a good sign because it was a different case compared to the concert last year. Last year, most my classmates were playing their handphone games and chatting around. We had history test afterwards, which was a wet blanket to our jovial spirits.

In conclusion, the annual NDPs that we watch has a lot of hidden rationales, such as sending a message to the world that Singapore is a strong country. Even though NDP is propaganda-related, we should still celebrate wholeheartedly as 9th August was the day Singapore grew independent.

16th Student Leaders' Convention

Okay, this shall be the FIRST post for Term 3!

16th SLC was held on the 1st -4th June, which aims to gather student leaders from the Asia-Pacific area to discuss social issues pertinent to youths. This majestic event was organized by the student councilors from HCI and NYGS and mentored by several teacher advisors, such as Mr Edmund Teo.

Eventually, this event was well-planned and it went smoothly, although some minor-hiccups occurred sometimes. The Organising team was mainly made up of 20 Sec 3s and 7 Sec 2s. Thus, you can see that I am the minority and both sides (sec 2 and sec 3) did have trouble communicating with each other due to some reasons, which I would elaborate further later. The selection of the OT took place in December when Samuel and I were the two selected Sec 2s from Ortus.

At that point of time, I had mixed feelings in my mind-both jubilant and stressed. My seniors told me that the planning of SLC (not the Service Learning Club! Haha) will be taxing and stressful, but as the Chinese saying goes “一份耕耘，一份收获”, the ending results will be enjoyable. When the event ended, I finally understand that it is worth the immense efforts that we had put through for the past 5 months.

Through the planning of SLC, we held uncountable meetings and the one that I remembered most vividly was the first General Meeting. It was the only meeting that we played icebreakers so as to let us ‘break the ice’. However, this was not the part which I enjoyed the most. In fact, it was Mr Edmund Teo’s words. I could still remember every word he said and they are still etched in my mind. This was what he said, “The Student Leaders’ Convention is the biggest event in Hwa Chong that is solely organized by the student leaders, and the teachers do not play a part in it.” Of course, teacher advisors still play a part as they were in charge of vetting our work and proposals.

During HCNYATFM (the name sounds nice and professional and I still prefer CSM though), the OT took a group photo.


I thought that the planning of this event would take up most of my time and my results would drop drastically. Surprisingly, my MSG for the first semester improved since last year. Maybe it was sheer luck that got me a 1.** MSG but “sheer luck” has helped me to get a 1.** MSG for two consecutive terms!

As this event ended in a blink, I somehow think something went missing in my life, such as attending weekly meetings in the King Albert Park Macdonald’s at 7pm and burning midnight oil to complete proposals. However, as time goes by, all these vanished but will always stay in the back of my mind.

I hope to join the 17th SLC Organising Team as the experience is really enriching and enjoyable.

It's time to post new posts soon. Hooray, blogging spree has started since the last one was during Term 1.

Stay Tuned....

Conditions and Impacts of WW2

Homelearning 25 May 2010

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Task 1
This poem “Rainbow Death” is written by Hubert Wilson, a soldier during the Vietnam War (American versus Vietnam). He was sent to Vietnam to fight for USA and stayed there for about 18 years. As he stayed there, his heath started to deteriorate greatly, and doctors then could not diagnose the disease. Having limb pains, Hubert Wilson’s mobility deteriorate and retired as a soldier. Like his father, he turned to writing poems as his pastime and wrote many poems, mostly about war.

The poem “Rainbow Death”, a war poem, depicted the modern warfare during the Vietnam War. As trench warfare was not common during that time, both sides, especially the US used ‘Agent Orange’-a highly dangerous contaminant. ‘Agent Orange’ was made using several man-made and natural materials, which was invented by an American Scientist. ‘Agent Orange’. This method had killed millions of people, and also affected the health of the living.
This poem tells us that the impacts of modern warfare (in this case, gas attacks) are great and not only will it kills many lives, it will also affect the younger generations. From “Generations untold WILL pay”, unborn babies will suffer from birth defects and the word ‘WILL’ emphasises on the huge impact Agent Orange will bring to mankind.

The poet’s intention of writing this poem is to tell readers the dangers modern warfare can bring to mankind. This is caused by the cruelty of men who want to win at all costs. As war ended, it may seemed that people would not be affected anymore and they could therefore lead back a normal life, however, they were wrong as younger generations would also be affected. The poet is trying to convey the message to us that “Think twice before starting a war!”.

Task 2 (Critical analysis of poetry)
**I merged the points Evidence and Elaboration together as it is easier to visualise.**

1) Point of View:

-An American soldier: As “America did not foresee” the great impacts of ‘Agent Orange’, an everlasting war was created and many generations were affected. All these were caused by “Nefariously America led astray”. The actions of the Americans were cruel and unhumane. As the war went on, USA were “expecting others (The Vienamese) to pay a high price” but the price was just too high for Vietnam to pay. “All the deceit continues to spread”. The hatred and sadness of the Vietnamese would continue to spread to younger generations. This war would never end.

-A neutral person: When the poet wrote “toll on the innocent and unborn”, we can know that he was writing in the view of a “by-stander” watching this war, supporting neither sides. If he were an American, he would have rejoiced as Vietnam had lost but he did not. However, if he were a Vietnamese, he would not have asked the Americans to “think twice” before their actions, inferring that .


2) Situation and Setting:

-Emotional: “All the deceit continues to spread” The poet felt this way as he thought it was unfair for Vietnam to suffer this horrendous treatment.

-Saddening: “Generations untold WILL pay” In reference to the story ‘To kill a mockingbird’, the younger generations of war are ‘mockingbirds’ as they suffered when they did no harm to the society. In the poet’s opinion, this was saddening.

-Hatred: “Toll on the innocent and unborn” and “All the deceit continues to spread” As Vietnam ‘tolled’ on the innocents, their minds would naturally be filled with hatred and revenge on the Americans. The word ‘deceit’ refers to hatred that the people would continue to spread so that one day, Vietnam could seek revenge on USA.


3) Language/Diction:

-“Potpourri” It means a mixture of materials or substances. However, in this poem, ‘potpourri’ means the mixture of deaths inflicted as a result of war.

-“Toll” It means a payment or price people have to pay. In this poem’s case, “toll on the innocent and unborn”, the Vietnamese would grieve and regret for their decision to fight the Americans. Now, they would have to pay the price.


4) Personal Response:
War is cruel and both sides will resort to anything just to defeat the enemy. In the case of ‘Rainbow Death’, the Americans resorted to gas attacks to defeat Vietnam. As a result, Vietnam had to pay a huge price that would even affect the younger generations.


Done by: Andy Lim (2o219)

References: Wikipedia (Information about Hubert Wilson)

Interpersonal (Interview)

I have done my interview with my neighbour (a fourteen-year-old), regarding prejudice and discrimination. Below is the transcript of the interview.

Me: Do you know what prejudice means?
Her: I think it means to have an unfair opinion on a group of people or someone basing on their skin colour, sex or country they live in.

Me: What is discrimination then?
Her: Isn’t this the same as ‘prejudice’?

Me: Discrimination is when a group of people is treated unfairly by the rest.
Her: …so ‘prejudice’ is to have an unfair opinion and ‘discrimination’ is to treat some people unfairly?

Me: Can you give me examples of discrimination?
Her: The treatment towards Blacks in the 1950s and the first-class citizens discriminating the second-class citizens

Me: How would you feel of you are discriminated?
Her: I would tell my parents or settle it myself by telling the people who discriminated me to stop their insults?

Me: Is there any way to solve discrimination?
Her: There are a lot, like killing, threatening and so on. But the best way is to sort out the differences between the two parties.

Me: Have you read the book ‘To kill a mockingbird’? If yes, can you give me examples of discrimination or prejudices?
Her: There are lot as this book was written in the “Unfair treatment towards Blacks”-era. Some examples would be the treatment towards the Negroes and the prejudice feelings towards the Boo Radleys.

Me: Is there any discrimination in Singapore?
Her: We are indeed very lucky to live in Singapore because it is discrimination-free!

Me: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me

Please comment on what some questions can be asked during the interview. Thanks!

Intrapersonal (Diary entry from Atticus)

I will be writing a diary entry of Atticus in TKAM. Below is my diary entry.

Date: 1 March 1948

Time: 9.47pm

Mood: Disappointed and learnt something at the same time


Dear Diary,

My children just slept. I could really see they were disappointed about the verdict but I was glad to let them see the true side of people.
Today, I represented my client, Tom Robinson to court today, regarding Mayella Ewell’s case. Before the trial, I knew Tom would surely be sent to jail because he was a Negro. However, I just could not believe that people of Maycomb could be so prejudiced towards Negros. The prejudice feelings among the white people are so strong that no matter how many times I proved that Tom was innocent, they still remain ignorant towards it.

The verdict of this case solely depends on the colour of the accused, and not the evidence produced during the happening of the case. What has this world changed to? Why is this world so unfair? Negroes are humans too, and they deserve human rights like us, the white people.

During the trial, I know I cannot lose because this concerned the life of a Negro and his family but I also know that this was the time of “unfair treatment towards Negroes”. I was reluctant to tell this to Tom before the trial, but I knew he knew this too. Still, he remained optimistic and told me “Atticus, I hope to see this change for the better.” My eyes went wet because I expected him to be angry and would kill the Ewells.

I attempted to potray an image of the Ewells’ family background and also proved that Tom was a cripple. Actually, I knew that the judge and the jury knew that Tom was innocent but they could do nothing due to the fact that white people were pressurizing them. If I were the judge, I would acquit Tom and face the insults from my fellow white people. This is because I know that there is nothing wrong in acquitting an innocent fellow.

What I can do now is to sigh. I am sighing because of the unfair treatment towards Negroes. I am sighing because no one dared to speak up for Negroes. Now, I can only hope that in the future generation, there will be a democracy and prejudice-free place!

I am going to turn in now.

Goodbye.

Regards,
Atticus

About my learning profile

(Click on the picture to zoom out)


My two best intelligence are interpersonal (people smart) and logical (numbers smart) and my two weakest are musical (music smart) and linguistic (word smart). I feel that it is quite true because I am good in mathematics and also communicating with people. I don't really like music because I will go dizzy after looking at music scoresheets.

For Maths, I like solving puzzles or word problems, because it gives me the sense of satisfaction when I managed to complete difficult maths problems. I was exempted from Maths last year and hope to be exempted again this year. I don't really like all types of maths problems. I like geometry the most and algebra the least.
I am really weak in music, ever since I was primary one. I think I am not born with a musical 'brain'! When I was told to play the pianica (the small piano), I was completely buffled and failed my test in the end.
I feel that we should really thank the person who created the multiple intelligence test because from his test, people now know that we can be intelligent in many ways, not just IQ. After doing the test, we know our talents and also, our weaknesses. As a result , we can better know ourselves and therefore, improving faster than before.

Fourth post for 2010

Hi again, I read an online newspaper (www.asiaone.com/news) just now and decided to write about it.
The post in the newspaper said that a honest student admitted to carrying a cellphone to the College Entrance Exam (CEE). This is a serious offence because this exam is important because it decides the college that you will enter. You will think that since this student admitted his mistake, the school will let him off or just give him a lighter punishment. However, you are wrong and the school accused this poor student for cheating during the examination and punished him accordingly. When I read this, I was totally shocked and questioned the Taiwan's examination system. Moreover, when I read on, the post says "There are 30 such cases in Taiwan, which students are like him, getting punished because of honesty."
I nearly fainted and reprimanded the Taiwan's MOE. Is this how they catch people cheating in exams? Is it wrong for students to admit their mistake? Do they rather want students not admit their mistakes? Are they so stupid to think that "cheaters" will admit to their offences after the examination?
As a result, this student is given a straight 'zero' for that subject, affecting his results greatly. This is really unfair because, instead of trying to catch cheaters in the examination, the school went to punish honest students.
Is honesty an offence?
Luckily, justice went all out to help that poor and HONEST student. As this matter spreads to the media, many people went to appeal to the Examination Board and the Directors of Education were now involved ! All I can do is to hope that the school will not punish the student but reward him for his honesty!
So what is your view about this matter? Should the school really punish the student?

3rd post for 2010

Hi people, this will be my third post. Hurray! I will be talking about the censorship of pornography materials if it should be exercised fully.
Pornographywhich can be any form like pictures or videos, convey sexual messages to audience. It is common in the world, especially in the Internet; a vast forum for people to communicate. Some pornographic materials convey messages to people that women really want to be raped and they are degrading. Usually, people engage in porn to get monetary benefits.
Pornography gives people the wrong impression that women really want to be raped or they are treated as 'sex objects'. This is false as the women did it just for money.
In addition, pornography today is more male-orientated. By doing this, more and more people will treat women as 'sex objects' and the society will turn worse if this is not stopped. There is more pornography today than the previous generation because the media today is wide and people can access pornography materials anywhere, anytime.
In the view of people who read sexual content, they think that doing this can satisfy they desires, which is totally wrong. They think that pornography advocates sexual experimentation therefore regard pornography as "scientific materials".
The media, with the help of government should exercise full censorship pertaining to pornography materials by blocking the sale of pornography materials into the country/state. This can therefore prevent sexual materials from circulating in the country. Although some people may think that some pornographic materials are useful to one's learning, I feel that all pornographic materials are harmful to one's knowledge of sex. If teenagers want to know more about sex, they can approach their teachers or parents, who will be very willing to help them.
Censorship of pornography materials should be banned totally, by media and government so that the society's mindset towards sex will not be influenced in a negative way.

2nd Post for 2010

As all of you have read the newspaper recently, Haiti has encountered an massive earthquake, 7.0 magnitude and most of the buildings collapsed to the ground, killing hundreds of thousand of people. Shelter, health aids, food, water and families breaking up are problems for the people of Haiti.
Although many countries went to help them by sending aids like food and water or sending doctors there to cure the injured. Many countries commented that Haiti was disorganised because distributing food was very chaotic. I can understand the plight of the Haiti people but staying calm is the best way to solve the problem. When I see the pictures during the earthquake, I was shocked to see the injuries and the people being stuck under collapsed buildings.
Work to save the victims under the ground will stop in 4 days time and corpses will be remain there forever. The Haiti people, obviously are angry and went strike against their government. In my opinion, the work should continue until all were saved or at least dug out from the debris.
However, this is an international rule: Work to save the victims can only last for 3 weeks because of resources needed.
I really hope that Haiti will continue her life and remain optimistic as life must goes on somehow. Countries should keep sending them aids until Haiti can become independent. Although this earthquake is not serious as the one in Sichuan, I really hope that everyone can lend the Haiti people a helping hand, either by monetary means or going there to help the victims.
Andy (19)

First Blog post for 2010

This is my first blog post for 2010. I need to revive my "dead" blog so that I can resume my blogging journey.
I am going to discuss with you the relationship between the Blacks (African Americans) and the Whites. A hundred year ago, blacks were used as human slaves to the whites. The slaves aminly worked for the farmers. Their salaries were low and insufficient. Also, the treatment to the blacks by the whites was worse off than that to maids or servants. To the whites, the blacks were not human beings and they were considered as "Three fifths of a human".
After the "black slavery" era, things started to change a little better. Most of the whites had stopped buying slaves but a minority continued as the slaves were cheaper then hired labourers. However, places like cafeterias, cinemas and amusement parks were only reserved for the whites. Signage like "We don't serve coloured." are common. The blacks could not lead a normal life and had to be despised by the arrogant white people. As the blacks paid the same tax as the whites, the government had no choice but to "reserve" Thursday as the coloured day. This was when blacks were allowed to patronise stalls or cafes, etc.
Twenty years later, a famous Black decided to change the miserable lives of the Blacks. He was none other than Martin Luther King, an eloquent speaker and a minister's son. He spoke the words that were hiding in the black people's hearts. He spoke that there should be one America, and not two. Segregations should end so that the Blacks could enjoy the same life as the Whites'. Martin succeeded his dream after a long struggle.
Although now America treats their fellow black Americans fairly, there is still some conflict between the two parties. Obama, being the first black president, has caused anger among some white people. I hope that some time later, Blacks can be treated fairly as the Whites as they are human beings like us. We have no right to treat them like dirt.