He took up civil rights in South Africa largely to ensure Indians' standing above the local blacks, and believed that the whites should stay in power.
An oft-recited turning point in Gandhi's life involves his being thrown off a train for refusing to move out of first class, which was reserved for whites, early on during his time in South Africa. However, during both that incident and the entire civil rights movement that followed, Gandhi wasn't so much campaigning for Indians' rights in and of themselves, but more so that Indians simply be given more rights than the local blacks.
"A general belief seems to prevail in the colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than the savages or natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir," he said.
When the British moved to placing the Indian and black populations together, Gandhi harshly resisted, writing to the local health officer in 1905, "Why, of all places in Johannesburg, the Indian location should be chosen for dumping down all kaffirs of the town, passes my comprehension. Of course, under my suggestion, the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population, and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen."
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