d to leave. Indians weren’t supposed to be in the first-class area and Gandhi had to be thrown off. He spent the night at the station thinking. “Should he stay and fight for his rights, or should he give up and go back to India, or should he swallow the insults and complete his legal case?” (Schlesinger, 33). He chose to stay and fight the prejudice. He encountered many obstacles. In South Africa Indians weren’t allowed to stay out after 9 and were forced into ghettos. They weren’t allowed to buy land, except in restricted areas. Many Indians had difficulty obtaining business licenses. They had to pay taxes just because they were Indians. After the train ride, he immediately sent a letter of protest to the railway company and called a meeting of the Indian Community. He was angry at what was going on and no longer was shy to speak out in front of people. His emphasis, though, was not on protest, but self-improvement. He wanted Indians to stand up for themselves when their rights were abused. He wanted them to be decent and clean. He offered them to teach English too. This was the point when Gandhi turned into a leader. “Gandhi realized that a true job of a lawyer is not to fight for one side but to search out the facts and negotiate a solution in the best interest of both sides.” (Schlesinger, 37). In the newspaper he noticed a proposed bill that would deprive Indians in Natal of vote. He sent a petition with signatures to Natal newspapers and the prime minister, who delayed the bill’s passage for two days. Gandhi sent another petition with 10,000 signatures to London newspapers and London Colonial Office, which ruled against the bill. The Natal Assembly passed a similar bill that did not mention Indians.In 1894, Gandhi founded the Natal Indian Congress. This gave Gandhi a way to organize the Indian community. He forced the self-improvement in areas such as sanitatio...
