The term 'apartheid' refers specifically to the system in South Africa established in 1948, involving a range of policies that enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement. While the U.S. had its own history of racial segregation, it did not institutionalize a system akin to South Africa's apartheid. The U.S. stance on apartheid was influenced by Cold War politics and shifted with internal pressure and global changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The notion that the United States could be considered the original apartheid state stems from a comparison of racial segregation and discrimination practices; however, the term 'apartheid' specifically refers to the system implemented in South Africa. Apartheid was a legally institutionalized system of racial segregation and discrimination that was established in South Africa in 1948 and involved an array of laws that marginalized and disenfranchised the majority non-white population, barring them from political and social involvement on the basis of race. This system was enforced until the early 1990s, when it was finally dismantled following a series of domestic and international pressures, notably the dedicated struggle of leaders like Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC).
In the context of the United States, while there were indeed historical practices of racial segregation and discrimination, such as Jim Crow laws, these were not codified into a systemic, nationwide policy specifically designed to maintain white supremacy with similar intent to South Africa's apartheid regime. Moreover, the U.S. did not establish separate, semi-autonomous homelands for different ethnic groups as did apartheid South Africa.
The Cold War era further complicated the position of the United States concerning South Africa, since the U.S. was hesitant to condemn the apartheid regime too strongly, largely due to the fear of the spread of Marxist ideas among African independence movements and the desire to maintain strategic alliances against the influence of communism in the region. This led to a regulation of the U.S.'s stance on apartheid, shifting only in the late 1980s with the divestment movement and the changing global political landscape.