Nelson Mandela
There is a whole lot going on in the world today: police shot execution style in Pakistan, tsunami heading for Japan, drought and famine taking hold of East Africa, a whole lot of political drama here in the States and all around the rest of the world for that matter. But I really only want to take a moment, albeit brief, to acknowledge and extend a heartfelt Earthday (birthday) blessing and greeting to President Nelson Mandela, who turned 93 today.
Born in 1918, he has already lived a most interesting as as appropriately, an awe inspiring life. My memories of the anti-apartheid movement are few. Not that the movement hasn't had a lasting impact on my life, quite the contrary. We just didn't live in a 24 hour news cycle and instataneously accessed information world in those days. My access was in the form of Cosby Show and Different World episodes that briefly spotlighted the apartheid regime of South Africa. And well, the news and culture programs, broadcast by Caribbean radio that I got to hear while travelling back and forth to work with my dad in his 1980s bronze Dodge Colt. I didn't come to appreciate programs like Like It Is until I was a few years older. Anyway what I do remember more vividly, are the images of this African man being released from prison, after having been locked up for some 27 years. The number sticks in my head because I was born on the 27th.
Looking at him, noting just how much he looked like someone I could have known, maybe even my own grandfather with whom the memories are few but fond, I was quickly angered at the kind of world that allows for such atrocities. I never learned such cruelness growing up. Both at home and at school, these days I tend to believe that I learned of tolerance and forgiveness, fairness and justice. I learned that people had a right to freedom and independence and a right to agitate for both with dignity.
But Mr. Mandela, also known as Madiba, the Xhosa word for father, did not display the anger and vehement disdain that I, half a world away, wrestled with. He was then and still is a shining example of what a man should aspire to be. All the flaws of men are present of course, but to carry oneself with the dignity, grace and strength that of reserved for royalty, is an amazement and a testament to the African spirit. We cannot be broken. Not by the tools and weapons of men. Our strength is in just how deeply the roots run.
There is another notable earthday this week, which I'm quite sure much of the world will little acknowledge, if at all. HIM Emperor Haile Selassie the 1st of Ethiopia, was born on the 23rd of July 1982. He too was a stalwart spirit and man, all at once the humble lamb and imposing lion. That these two Africans, born on soil that these eyes have longed to bear witness to, suffered for the people and principles they believed in and fought for, isn't lost on me. There were many Africans who, thought brought here in chains as boneded chattel, fought valiantly to regain their freedom early on in the struggle, however limited those freedoms would later become. Their spirit is still alive and strong in the world and I give thanks that they are in such exquisite company. There is still much to be done to right the injustices of this world, past and present, and it is on the shoulders of these proud, richly spirited Africans that we rise to the occasion today.
I'm not sure if I could survive having to spend all of that time in prison, away from my children and other family and friends. But in the spirit of the Elders and Ancestors who lived that I might live, if there would be any inspiration to come from my imprisonment whilst fighting for freedom, redemption and international repatriation, for that cause I too go into the still.
Again, Happy Earthday Nelson Mandela, Madiba. May your years be long and merry and the influence and light you share, spread far and wide and burn in perpetuity.
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