Asking for Trouble in South Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa, is not Birmingham, Alabama, and the practical lessons of the civil rights movement in the United States do not necessarily apply to a society of monolithic racism. So argues the author, who feels that current U.S. policy must take into account some intransigent aspects of South African society. Mr. Ball’s essay is followed on page 51 by a firsthand description of the facts of life under apartheid, from a South African journalist.