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- A drone captured these shocking photos of inequality in South Africa
A drone captured these shocking photos of inequality in South Africa
Cape Town is a city like no other. "It's incredibly beautiful," Miller says, "and is the quintessential South African blend of first and third world."
Black people have been disenfranchised in the country for hundreds of years. Starting in 1948, apartheid protected racism under the law.
Apartheid also brought about labels to differentiate between nonwhite people from different origins. Black people came from the Eastern Cape and spoke Xhosa, while mixed-race people, called "colored," descended from slaves from Indonesia and Madagascar or were indigenous Khoisan people.
In the years following, black people were forcibly removed from their homes in rural areas and relocated into slums. The new developments were spaced apart to prevent people from unifying.
Apartheid is no longer law. But fast-forward more than 50 years from when apartheid laws were put in place, and many black residents still live in tin shacks, confined to sandy, arid areas far outside the city.
The wealthy, white people claimed leafy neighborhoods on the Atlantic seaboard and near Table Mountain, closer to the downtown area and its resources.
"Interestingly, sometimes you have very poor communities that, for one reason or another, exist right in the middle of very wealthy neighborhoods," Miller says.
Miller wanted to document these areas. He used a website that turns census data into an interactive map, sorting residents by race, income, and language spoken.
Google Maps helped him identify safe zones where he could launch and land the DJI Inspire One drone. In South Africa, it's legal to fly a drone if it's not for commercial use.
The results are incredible. "I knew that the divisions were extreme," Miller says, "but I didn't realize how extreme they were until I flew overhead."
Even paint color serves to distinguish between the haves and have-nots.
This golf course seems out of place sandwiched between neighborhoods.
Only aerial photography could capture the difference in density between the slums and the affluent neighborhoods.
One of Miller's favorite images shows the contrast between Alexandra, a township that Nelson Mandela once called home, and the "Manhattan-like" metropolis of Sandton.
Source: Unequal Scenes
His photos have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, prompting a wide range of reactions, including some bigoted commentary.
People are fearful of the unknown, of someone with a different language, a different color, a different culture," Miller says. "And that fear is understandable and based on history and circumstance, but it's also got to change.
Miller has teamed up with Code For Africa, a grassroots organization that digitizes and releases data, to promote the use of technology in journalism.
He hopes to form a community of drone enthusiasts.
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