Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela died December 5, 2013.  I did not know who he was until I was a freshman at Cornell University in 1970.  We prayed for him every day at Mass, and wished for his freedom.  I now know that he was a freedom fighter, trying to get equal rights for Black or Native  South Africans vs. white South Africans.

Sorry to say, after I left the Cornell community, I lost track of Nelson Mandela. Until years later, when he was freed.

And even years later after that, I was re-awakened to his story by the movie Invictus.

Mandela was a member of the African National Congress that advocated equality and the demise of apartheid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_in_South_Africasystem in South Africa.  Apartheid was like the Jim Crow Laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws in the United States.  Although the laws said separate but equal, there was nothing equal about these laws and they way people were treated.

The resources, services, treatment of persons, and whatever was not only inferior to black citizens, it was intended to denigrate, and other wise demean the black population and continue to keep the black population as an underdog.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movements_for_civil_rights  worked to change these conditions. Although it has been somewhat successful, I will sadly say that there is still a lot of undercurrent of racism in this country.

We have so much to learn from Mr. Mandela.  Mostly, we need to learn forgiveness and conciliatory behavior so we can co-exist peacefully.  These are hard lessons. But the way for all nations to exist.