By Rich Bockmann
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) said he was moved to see the outpouring of support from world leaders who gathered in Johannesburg earlier this week to remember the late Nelson Mandela.
“It was inspiring to see over 101 head of states come to memorialize a man who changed the course of history through his dedication, focus and sacrifice,” said Meeks, who traveled with a special congressional delegation to attend memorial services for the former South African president Tuesday.
“To know that if one stands on high moral ground, you can have people from all over the world come to salute you and aspire to achieve a more equal world no matter your race, religion, ethnicity or wealth,” he added.
Mandela died last Thursday at 95 at his home in Johannesburg after battling a recurring lung infection, and many of the borough’s leaders cited him as a source of personal inspiration.
“I first learned of this great man while I was a junior at the University of South Carolina and serving as president of the college chapter of the NAACP,” said Leroy Gadsden, president of the Jamaica branch of the NAACP. “I was inspired by the fact that this man who had my same complexion was so committed to a cause that he would spend decades in prison without compromising his beliefs …. we started an NAACP-led series of protests on the campus that eventually forced the University of South Carolina board of trustees to divest all of their funds out of South Africa.
“This was a great hero to me,” Gadsden added. “In my eyesight he was a giant.”
Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner for his opposition to apartheid. As a result of intense international pressure, he was released in 1990 and was elected president of South Africa in 1994.
He was the 1993 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Despite the suffering he endured at the hands of the apartheid government, Mandela devoted himself after his release from prison not to settling old scores, but to building an inclusive society where all South Africans could live in freedom and in harmony with one another,” Borough President Helen Marshall said. “His actions throughout his life, including during his historic tenure as South Africa’s first black president, have served as an inspiration to me and to the billions of people throughout the world who are mourning his loss today.”
Shortly after his release from prison Mandela visited New York City in 1990, and in a speech on the steps of City Hall he declared the city held a special meaning for his people.
“Nelson Mandela has inspired me in my public in my public life to offer a voice for the voiceless and keep faith that the human race can always overcome that which divides it,” said U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing).
“Nelson Mandela is a hero for delivering freedom to millions of South Africans. But his greatest legacy will be what he did next. With great moral courage, he chose reconciliation over reprisal, forgiveness over spite and love over hate,” she added. “In so doing, he built a South Africa for all, enshrined by one of the most just, fairest and progressive constitutions in the world. The result is a democratic South Africa that is building bridges in its own land and throughout Africa.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
