virtue of being black in south africa, you were presumed to be a criminal unless you could prove otherwise by having the proper paperwork. and any white person could challenge you anywhere for any reason, and if you did not have the passport, if you did not have the right documents, if you did not have the right written permission to be where you were when you were there, then you could be put in jail. passbook laws had been around since the 18th century, and the structure was always the same. white people never needed them. white people could go wherever they needed. but non-white people need add internal passport. papers please. at the end of world war ii, the election in south africa in 1948 unexpectedly brought to power a nationalist government on a platform they called apartness. in their language, it was