IANA Blog- July 2023

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Happy July,

During this month, I was celebrating Nelson Mandela Day. July 18th would have been his 105th Birthday, and a couple months later would be the Tenth anniversary of his transition to an ancestor. So, I figured I would take some time to make this month’s blog on a man that influenced me, one of my favorite leaders, and in my opinion, one of the greatest men to step foot from the African continent, Nelson Mandela.

Now I know what you’re thinking, what does Nelson Mandela have to do with IANA? He’s South African…

I know…and for those that remember…he was a revolutionary…freedom fighter…philanthropist…leader of the African National Congress…former President of South Africa…the symbol of the Anti-Apartheid movement, a movement that impacted the world…and it wasn’t just South Africans fighting back against the Apartheid system, the whole continent of Africa joined the fight…especially Nigeria. Late Nigerian artists Sonny Okosun, Ras Kimono and Majek Fashek made Anti-apartheid songs and showed their support for the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa.

I know this sounds cliche, but Nelson Mandela, as mentioned, had a huge influence on me, especially as a kid. I remember a couple years ago on Twitter, I saw someone make a Mount Rushmore of Great Black Men/Leaders, and I had to make my “Mount Rushmore.” Mines consisted of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and…Nelson Mandela. I even went further and thought of a Mount Rushmore for Great African Leaders. My list consisted obviously of Mandela, but also consisted of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah and Thomas Sankara. It was hard making that list too, especially with leaving out a Nigerian. I remember, as a kid, seeing his face on a book cover and I had to learn more about him. I got to learn more about Mandela and his activism for South Africa. Learning about Mandela was and is still an ongoing experience, especially with his wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Also, I remember seeing how Mandela was portrayed in different movies, from Morgan Freeman, to Danny Glover, to Sidney Poitier. 

I also remember, during my college years when I was at CSU East Bay, I got to write an opinion piece on Mandela’s death and how it affected me. (https://thepioneeronline.com/19667/opinions/mandela-an-icon-that-wont-be-forgotten/) Even looking back at the article I wrote, there are definitely some things I would change and add on that piece, especially bringing up his “controversial” past.

Me and my friends actually talk about that “controversial” past, but what I meant was during his time he became South African president, after the “ending” of Apartheid. Me and my organizer friends talk about it all the time. I let them know how he could have done better as President and what happened between him and the ANC. I was definitely disappointed at how he was actually working with people who probably were happy that Apartheid happened, working with someone like F.W. De Klerk, who benefited from Apartheid, but they had to remind me that Mandela had no other choice, especially since a lot of those people still had their hands on the resources and the wealth in South Africa. In a way, he was pretty much compromised, so I can understand why he did it, plus at that point, he was an elder, so it should be expected that he wasn’t going to be able to continue where he left off. Who knows, maybe if was on that revolutionary point when he gets released from prison, maybe South Africa would be targeted like how Cuba is targeted, or the media would target Mandela like they do Fidel Castro. 

Speaking of the media, I remember watching the Town Hall interview Mandela had with Ted Koppel in the 1990s. They tried to paint him as some Yes Massa-type of teddy bear that wouldn’t hurt a fly, but Mandela let everyone at that interview know the real truth about his fight and what was going on in Africa, he was “spittin hot fire,” he especially shut Ted Koppel up, especially when Koppel was trying to manipulate him. One of my favorite parts of the interview was when audience members were trying to get him to say bad things about Palestine, or Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi. One of my favorite things he said stood out to me when I saw the interview. He said, “One of the biggest mistakes that some (U.S.) political analysts make is to think that their enemies should be our enemies.” He went on to talk about how Castro, Gaddafi and  Yasser Arafat supported the fight against Apartheid in South Africa. 

The link to the Town Hall Interview- Nelson Mandela - Town Hall Interview (June 21, 1990)

After watching that interview, it made me respect Mandela even more, because most people who have been imprisoned for a long time probably would have cracked, or sold out, but not Mandela. He stayed strong and let everyone know what’s up. Even now, I find it crazy, because once in a while, I’ll go online and see someone say Mandela is a sell-out. I’m just like, “Are you dumb?!” This is coming from people online who consider themselves Pan-Africanists or from people who claim they love Africa or just straight-up “militant” Black people, I even hear it from Black South Africans and I shake my head. If I were to see any of these people, I’d tell them straight up that Nelson Mandela did more for South Africans, and Africans than anyone will ever know. He’s done more than some of those that criticize him will ever do in a lifetime. Just because he did it the way you wouldn’t doesn’t change what he did. He put his life on the line for his country…he had to spend 27 years in prison fighting…some of our favorite African celebrities wouldn’t even have the balls to do what Mandela did. Like I said earlier, even with the problems and criticisms I had with Mandela, I sure as hell wouldn’t call him a sell-out.

As I got to learn more about Nelson Mandela during my lifetime,  I got to learn more about Winnie, especially since I knew more about Nelson than I did Winnie Mandela. She played a crucial role in freeing Nelson and ending Apartheid. I got to read her biography and what she had to deal with when Nelson was jailed and when she was targeted by police herself and how she was tortured while imprisoned. Even after her death in 2018, I saw some articles still calling her a “criminal,” a “mugger” and a “murderer.” She was framed for the murder of Stompie Seipei, even though it was the “bodyguards” (who turned out to be informants) who did it. At her funeral, the “bodyguards” said she had nothing to do with the murder of Stompie. It blows my mind that there are people who would accuse Winnie of such things, but then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. People will believe anything.

Even with all the problems Mandela did have, especially with what happened between and his former wife Winnie, even with the criticism I have with him, you’ll never see me disrespect Nelson Mandela, or put him in the same category as some other “sell-outs.” This sounds cliche, but Africa definitely needs more leaders like Nelson Mandela, but then again, you talk to my friend and she’ll tell you, “We can’t rely on the next charismatic leader to lead us, it depends on us,” but whatever I do in life, one of the people I will always look to as an inspiration is Nelson Mandela. As Madiba himself said, “Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action only is merely daydreaming, but vision with action can change the world.”