Top 5 Events of 1990

1.  Political: Nelson Mandela is released from the South African prison after being held there for 27 years. He was a political leader and freedom fighter in South Africa in the mid and late 20^th century trying to end apartheid, which is a system of discrimination and segregation of a group of people because of their race, especially blacks in South Africa. Minority white population got the best jobs, housing and schools, while the majority black population were taught they were racially inferior. However, since only about 12.5% of the population supported apartheid and Mandela’s non-violent approaches to end apartheid was prominent in South Africa, the fall of Apartheid seemed inevitable and therefore soon ended in 1990.

2.  Music: Ice Ice Baby by Vanila Ice and You Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer. The hip-hop song You Can’t Touch This has sold more than 18 million copies so far. It gained many platinum awards by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). It soon created many pop culture phrases such as “Hammertime.” Written by Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake, Ice Ice Baby was the first hip-hop song to reach the top of the Billboard charts. Robert Van Winkle, aka Vanilla Ice, wrote this song when he was just 16, which Blender ranked 5^th on a list of the “50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever.”

3. TV show: Law and Order: Known as one of the longest and most famous police and legal drama shows in US history, Law and Order debut in the fall of 1990 on NBC. In each episode, people are represented by two equally important groups: the police and the district attorneys. The police investigate the crime and the district attorneys prosecute the offenders. It was so prominent that the show was renewed 20 times before having a season finale of its 20^th season in 2010.

4. Film: Home Alone: This is probably everyone’s favorite and well-known light-hearted movie on those family nights. Starring Macaulay Culkin as the “innocent” 8 year old boy, when Culkin is left home by his own by his vacationing family just before Christmas, it is up to his wits and intelligence to defend the house from burglars. As of 2009, it is the highest grossing comedy of all time, grossing 476 billion dollars.

5. History: Berlin Crisis and the destruction of the wall: After the wall stood for 29 years separating Democratic West and Communist East. It was built by the former USSR to prevent the citizens of the east from escaping to the free west. After WWII, Germany was divided into for zones for each of the main powers of the Allies: France, Germany, Great Britain, and the USSR. The instability of the Communist East and the numerous protested led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the slow reunification of Germany. The Berlin Wall is considered one of the major symbols on the Cold War and the tensions between the US and USSR.