Police let their dog urinate on Michael Brown memorial, then drove over it & Plea To Ferguson's Leaders: To Help Heal, Acknowledge Our Hurt & CROSSING THE RACIAL DIVIDE 27&29AUG14 & 29MAR12

SOME people think the police in Ferguson, Missouri are being maligned, that the actions of one officer do not represent the whole department. I don't know how they can reach that conclusion considering the actions of the Ferguson police after Michael Brown was murdered by officer darren wilson, his body left lying in the street over four hours, the brutality of the police to protest following the murder. For me this confirms my opinion that the police department of Ferguson is lead and staffed by racist, fascist pigs and not only does the U.S. Dept of Justice need to investigate them, charges need to be filed against the Ferguson police dept for civil rights and civil liberties violations and the entire department should be replaced. THE wrongs of the Ferguson police do not, in any way, justify the violence and looting of some of the protesters, it does not justify anyone's racism and hatred. Michael Brown's family is to be commended for their tireless commitment to peace and reconciliation in Ferguson, and there are many other unsung advocates for peace, justice and reconciliation working hard in the community. The Crossing The Racial Divide discussion and study guide (released by +Sojourners on 29MAR12 after Trayvon Martin's murder) might be a resource for those interested in peace and justice to consider.  From +Daily Kos and +NPR 

Wed Aug 27, 2014 at 10:11 AM PDT

Police let their dog urinate on Michael Brown memorial, then drove over it

by Hunter

Why have the residents of Ferguson, Missouri reacted with such anger to the still-unexplained shooting of Michael Brown? It is a mystery.

As darkness fell on Canfield Drive on August 9, a makeshift memorial sprang up in the middle of the street where Michael Brown's body had been sprawled in plain view for more than four hours. Flowers and candles were scattered over the bloodstains on the pavement. [...] Soon, police vehicles reappeared, including from the St. Louis County Police Department, which had taken control of the investigation. Several officers emerged with dogs. What happened next, according to several sources, was emblematic of what has inflamed the city of Ferguson, Missouri, ever since the unarmed 18-year-old was gunned down: An officer on the street let the dog he was controlling urinate on the memorial site.

And:

[Missouri state Rep. Sharon Pace] purchased some tea lights for the family, and around 7 p.m. she joined Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, and others as they placed the candles and sprinkled flowers on the ground where Brown had died. "They spelled out his initials with rose petals over the bloodstains," Pace recalled. By then, police had prohibited all vehicles from entering Canfield Drive except for their own. Soon the candles and flowers had been smashed, after police drove over them.

This is all in the first hours after Brown's body was finally removed, with the boy's mother and the rest of the crowd watching. So yeah, just a crackerjack job by St. Louis law enforcement on this one. Start out by letting dogs piss on the flowers, run over the candles in your cars, move on to tear gassing people for walking around after dark. The sixties never left Missouri.

Plea To Ferguson's Leaders: To Help Heal, Acknowledge Our Hurt

by

August 29, 2014 8:53 AM ET

The Rev. Willis Johnson (left), pastor of Wellspring Church in Ferguson, speaks to the Rev. Michele Shumake-Keller after the panel discussion in Ferguson, Mo., on Thursday. Johnson said he hoped the event would be a step to healing a "community in trauma."

Whitney Curtis for NPR

To listen to the community event, go to

(Editor's Note: NPR's Michel Martin was invited by St. Louis Public Radio to moderate a community conversation on Thursday around race, police tactics and leadership following the shooting death of Michael Brown. The following story is based on what happened at the event.)
, is a study in contrasts. It boasts spacious Victorians in its historic section, with lush green lawns, many featuring "I Heart Ferguson" signs. Just blocks away, there's a burnt-out QuikTrip. The signs here read "Hands Up, Don't Shoot." In some cases, there are boarded-up windows advertising plans to reopen, or decorated with the town's thanks for the love and support.
Not far from either: A mound of teddy bears and dried flowers marks the spot where 18-year-old fell after being shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Brown's death not only put a spotlight on these contrasts, but has also encouraged people to try to address them.
That was the Rev. Willis Johnson's hope. He's the pastor of Wellspring Church, which hosted a community conversation Thursday night that drew about 200 people. In welcoming the audience, Johnson acknowledged he's "gone from feeling hurt to wanting to hurt," but he said he hoped the event would be a step to healing a "community in trauma."

The conversation drew about 200 people to Wellspring Church. Over the course of two hours, many members of the audience shared similar reactions to problems in Ferguson.

Whitney Curtis for NPR

Over the course of two hours, many members of the audience — black, white, young and old — shared similar reactions.
Ferguson resident Jeff Schultz said the problems that came up in the course of the weeks of disturbances were "invisible to white people like me." He urged the group to find ways to begin to talk about these issues in a way that would keep other whites from getting defensive. But a number of the African-American attendees repeatedly described feelings of being disrespected by institutions and individuals that were supposed to serve them.
"My people are not respected. ... Look at the schools: Which schools are in trouble?" said former Missouri state Sen. Rita Days. "Those are schools with predominantly people that look like me."
She urged the group to acknowledge those divisions.
A panel of community leaders — which included Days; top law enforcement officer Daniel Isom, a retired St. Louis police chief and the incoming director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety; and Kimberly McKinney, a Habitat for Humanity executive — wrestled over questions about the police tactics used during the demonstrations, but also about those used on a regular basis, which some observers have suggested is tied to raising money for fines and fees.
Many people expressed particular disgust at the treatment of Brown's body, which remained on the scene and uncovered for more than four hours after the shooting. Much of the anger was directed at Ferguson Mayor James Knowles and others, who attended the event.

Ferguson resident Frankie Edwards shows a rubber bullet wound he suffered during one of the nights of protests to NPR's Michel Martin (right) and Ferguson Mayor James Knowles (second from right) during the community conversation at Wellspring Church.

Whitney Curtis for NPR

David Jackson, a member of the St. Louis Board of Education, was blunt.
"I am so disappointed in you as a leader," he said. "The buck stops with you. It starts with you."
Among the more remarkable developments of the evening was the emergence of an increasingly vocal group of young people who, prompted by social media and word of mouth, arrived at the event to share their experiences and demand accountability. They spoke of being tear-gassed, spoken to roughly by authorities and shot by rubber bullets.
One of the more dramatic moments came as a young man who introduced himself as Frankie Edwards pulled up his shirt to show the mayor a freshly scabbed scar from a bullet wound he received while protesting in Ferguson. He asked Knowles to apologize on behalf of the police, and asked the mayor whether he would step down.
Knowles pointedly said he would not.
"I'm not stepping down," he said. "The voters have an opportunity to relieve me when the time comes."
But African-Americans were not the only people to express disappointment with Knowles' leadership through the crisis. Emily Davis, a white mother of three who lives in Ferguson, said her first emotion after Brown's death was deep sorrow, "but now I am angry," she said.
She had been out protesting or volunteering daily with her children, but "I still don't see any engagement [from the police]. And my kids are confused. My son said, 'I thought police were the good guys.' "

Corinna Anjali (left) speaks to Mayor Knowles after the event. "You're in the hot spot as the one person in power," Anjali said to Knowles. "It's important for you to say 'I hear you' to the people who have been hurt."

Whitney Curtis for NPR

Another attendee, Geoffrey Higginbotham, said this was his third riot, after the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles following the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I came here to the city of Ferguson about 2 1/2 years ago to speak about economic development and how we address these issues," he said. "They were not ready for it."
Both Johnson, the pastor, and Isom, the former police chief, concluded the evening on pensive notes.
Isom asked for the community's ongoing engagement in addressing the issues raised over the course of the evening.
"I just feel sorrow. I feel sorry that as a leader in St. Louis, we haven't done a really good job," he said. "I'm redoubling my effort to hold myself accountable, and see what I can do to make it better. But I can't do it by myself."
Johnson added: "I am hurt. Sometimes I feel a little helpless. But I am hopeful, because I know there's a better day."

Remembering Maya Angelou’s iconic voice & Maya Angelou's Poem "On the Pulse of Morning" & Lift Every Voice and Sing 28MAI14 & 20JAN1993

MORE on the life and death of the glorious woman who was Maya Angelou. We have lost a great voice for faith, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, harmony, love, peace, social justice, laughter and life. Her words and her living what she wrote and preached, her example, will live with us forever. I remember hearing her read her poem at Pres Bill Clinton's first inauguration (I was there).

Maya Angelou's Poem "On the Pulse of Morning"

Published on Dec 18, 2012

This is video footage of Maya Angelou reciting her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the 1993 Presidential Inaugural. This footage is official public record produced by the White House Television (WHTV) crew, provided by the Clinton Presidential Library.

Date: January 20, 1993
Location: US Capitol. Washington, DC

 I feel a loss with her death yesterday, 28 MAY 14. She was a blessing, and she is missed already. Godspeed Maya Angelou, and thank you. From +PBS NewsHour .....

Remembering Maya Angelou’s iconic voice

Drawing on a childhood of abuse and segregation, writer and author Maya Angelou moved the nation. Works such as her 1978 poem, “And Still I Rise,” explored the effects of racism and sexism on personal identity, with a voice that married oral and written literary traditions. Jeffrey Brown discusses with Elizabeth Alexander of Yale University why the voice of Angelou resonates so profoundly.

http://youtu.be/XGWx9W0-K7c 

RIPT

JEFFREY BROWN: And with us now is Elizabeth Alexander, chair of the African-American Studies Department at Yale University, and herself a prominent poet. She read an original work at President Obama’s first inauguration.

TRANSCRIPT

 Welcome to you.
So, what made Maya Angelou such a unique voice? What stood out for you?
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, University: What I think was extraordinary about Maya Angelou’s voice is that it brought together the literary — you see influences from Shakespeare, from Paul Laurence Dunbar, to all of those books she talked about reading, with the incredible richness of the African-American women’s oral tradition, that mother wit, that deep understanding, that make a way out of no way that has gotten our people so very, very far.
She married those and understood that poetry wasn’t only a written form, but also a form that was meant to be spoken, to be recited, to be sung. I don’t think there’s any writer who had a better understanding of what those two traditions together could make possible.
JEFFREY BROWN: And when and how did you first connect with her work?
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER: I read her work, I’m sure, when I was a child. I can’t imagine that was ever not there. And I’m sure that I also first came to “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
She was a prolific, prolific memoirist. She wrote six memoirs which are now together in a really beautiful Modern Library edition. And those memoirs, her telling her life story and telling the truth about her life, telling the truth about what it meant to go from silence to telling her story, talking about the pain, talking about the struggle, talking about a history of the entire second half of the 20th century in struggle, all of that is in those memoirs.
And I think that that is how most readers came to know her in the first place.
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, and those memoirs, of course, told of a remarkable story, a larger-than-life tale. We listed some of the things she did, and also intersecting with so many important figures and moments in that history.
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER: Yes. And that’s why I mentioned this six volumes all in one, because when you read it through over 1,000 pages, you almost can’t believe the life.
And yet it’s utterly credible, because she had that kind of dynamism, certainly, and that kind of profound understanding of her own voice and that if you, as she said, have a song to sing, you must open your mouth and share it. Who are you not to share that song? And I think that authenticity connected her with Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, James Baldwin, and so many other people who made change.
JEFFREY BROWN: You, of course, shared that experience of writing for and reciting at inauguration. I wonder, did you ever talk to her about it? Did you share that experience with her?
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER: Well, an extraordinary thing happened. I never had the privilege of meeting her.
But a few weeks of before the inaugural, after it had been announced that I was to write the poem, she found me and called me. And the moment I heard that voice on the phone, before she even said her name, I knew that voice, I knew who it was.
And we proceeded to have a very beautiful conversation, which I think for her had a sense not only of kindness — I was in the throes of doing something that seemed impossible, writing that poem — but also a sense of history, a sense of continuity, and a sense that, as an elder, it was for her to make that continuity.
I asked her at the end of the conversation if she was going to come to the inaugural, to Washington. And she said, “Oh, no.”  She laughed. She said: “I have done that. I’m going stay at home. I’m going to open a bottle of wine, and I’m going to enjoy a potage of my own preparation.”  And she said, “I will laugh, I will cry and I will sing.”
So it felt to me like a real benediction.
JEFFREY BROWN: All right, the wonderful and remarkable life of Maya Angelou.
Elizabeth Alexander, thanks so much.
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER: My pleasure. Thank you for asking.

Maya Angelou Quotes

From rough beginnings, respected writer and activist Maya Angelou made a remarkable journey

May 28, 2014 at 6:45 PM EDT

Maya Angelou, one of the most respected cultural figures of her generation, has died at the age of 86. Her debut memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” made her one of the first bestselling African-American female authors. Jeffrey Brown reports on how an early trauma made her turn toward books and how she learned to use her voice to explore the effects of racism and sexism on identity.

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• Remembering Maya Angelou’s iconic voice
• Maya Angelou, renaissance woman, dies at 86

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  Remembering Maya Angelou’s iconic voice

TRANSCRIPT

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight: remembering author, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.

Jeffrey Brown has our appreciation.MAYA ANGELOU: A rock, a river, a tree.
JEFFREY BROWN: On a chilly January day in 1993, Maya Angelou captured national attention and, in her own special way, the spirit of the moment for the inauguration of President Bill Clinton. The poem she read, “On the Pulse of the Morning,” became a national bestseller.
MAYA ANGELOU: But, today, the rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, come, you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny, but seek no haven in my shadow. I will give you no more hiding place down here.
JEFFREY BROWN: Long before that moment, Maya Angelou had become one of the most respected authors and cultural figures of her generation, making a remarkable journey from rough beginnings.
She was born Marguerite Johnson and spent much of her childhood in racially segregated Arkansas. After her mother’s boyfriend raped her at the age of 7, she retreated into silence for years. In 2012, at the New York Public Library, she remembered how books came into her life in those troubled times.
MAYA ANGELOU: I had been abused, and I returned to a little village in Arkansas. And a black lady took me to — she knew I wasn’t speaking. I refused to speak. For six years, I was a volunteer mute.
She took me to the library in the black school. The library probably had about 300 books, maybe. She said, “I want you to read every book in this library.” It seemed to me thousands of books.
JEFFREY BROWN: Angelou became a single mother at 17, worked a variety of jobs, including at a strip club, and even ran a brothel. Eventually, taking on a new name, she became a singer and dancer.
In 1969, at the urging of James Baldwin, she chronicled that early life in the first of what would become a series of memoirs, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” It won critical praise and made her one of the first African-American women to author a bestseller.
Angelou used her new voice to explore the effects of racism and sexism on personal identity. One such work was her 1978 poem, “And Still I Rise.”
MAYA ANGELOU: Out of the huts of history’s shame, I rise. Up from a past rooted in pain, I rise. A black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling, I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, I rise. Into a daybreak miraculously clear, I rise, bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave, and so, naturally, there I go rising.
JEFFREY BROWN: Angelou never went to college, but ultimately received more than 30 honorary degrees. She also became a prominent civil rights activist, Tony-nominated stage actress, college professor and frequent guest on television shows.
Along the way, her life intersected, in work and friendship, with a number of other well-known figures, from Malcolm X to Oprah Winfrey. In 2012, she spoke in a profile by PBS affiliate KQED from her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
MAYA ANGELOU: Friendship, it keeps you alive, it keeps you awake, it keeps you trying to be the best. And in the middle of the night, when you’re lonely and most — and feel most — most at odds with yourself and with life and even with God, you can call a friend.
JEFFREY BROWN: In 2011, President Obama presented Angelou with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Today, the president called her a — quote — “brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman.”
Maya Angelou died this morning at her Winston-Salem home. She was 86 years old.

Lift Every Voice and Sing 

 

Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013 from NPR 5&6DEZ13

THERE have been some great stories on NPR on the amazing life of Nelson Mandela. Here is the main page of their coverage, there are lots of links, click on them, and listen to the ones that offer that choice because there are both funny and moving and musical stories to be shared. And the Frontline show The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela is well worth watching http://video.pbs.org/video/2365135079/...

View caption Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. Flags Lowered For Mandela, A Rare Honor For Foreign Leaders

President Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff until Monday — a symbolic gesture of a nation in mourning. It's a tradition observed by countries around the world, one that began as early as the 17th century.

LISTEN: Two Mandela Speeches That Made History

ListenPlaylist

In Photos: Global Reaction To Mandela's Death

A Mix Of Joy, Sadness: South Africans Mourn, Celebrate Mandela

The Record

The Mandela Playlist: A Life And Legacy, Told In Music

It's worth pausing to consider not only the legacy and achievements of former South African president Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, but also the rich musical associations of his life.

Nelson Mandela: An Audio History

December 5, 2013 A Radio Diaries documentary offers a window into South Africa's half-century-long struggle for democracy through rare sound recordings of freedom fighter Nelson Mandela — and those who fought with and against him.

ListenPlaylist

The Two-Way

Mandela Is Remembered On Social Media 

December 5, 2013 Twitter and other social media outlets see an outpouring of comments on the life and death of Nelson Mandela.

Code Switch

The First Time I Heard The Name 'Mandela' 

December 5, 2013 The South African leader's life held special power for black Americans, who lost many iconic civil rights leaders tragically early. Karen Grigsby Bates reflects on Mandela's legacy.

heard on air

Near Mandela's Soweto Home, A Gathering Of Mourners

3:45

from Morning Edition

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Songwriter Clegg On Mandela, South Africans' 'Bridge'

3:17

from Morning Edition

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For Much Of His Life, Mandela Was A Controversial Figure

5:16

from Morning Edition

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Why Music Played An Important Role In Mandela's Life

2:47

from Morning Edition

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Renee Montagne Reflects On Covering Mandela

4:31

from Morning Edition

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What's the Best Way to Remember Nelson Mandela? & Dick Cheney Didn't (Doesn't) Regret His Vote Against Freeing Nelson Mandela, Maintained He Was A 'Terrorist' 6&5DEZ13

HERE is a really good piece from HuffPost on the living, active memory and legacy of Nelson Mandela. It is followed by the ignorance of dick cheney, I include that to reinforce the activism of Nelson Mandela, a campaign for freedom, democracy and social justice that must be continued in South Africa and applied to the United States and around the world. Godspeed Madiba.....I have more on Nelson Mandela at N'Kosi Sikeleli iAfrika (Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul Simon) & Remembering activist and peacemaker Nelson Mandela 5DEZ13 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/nkosi-sikeleli-miriam-makeba-ladysmith.html
 

After democracy came, they tore down the prison where freedom fighters were held and used the bricks to build the nation's first Constitutional Court.
Visitors to South Africa are often struck by the depth and breadth of that country's affection for Nelson Mandela. I still have the newspaper I bought at a supermarket checkout counter there on the day of Mandela's planned release from the hospital. The headline uses Mandela's clan name and reads, "Madiba expected to return home today."
20 years ago it would have been unthinkable to imagine kind words about an ANC leader, much less the use of an African clan name, in a supermarket tabloid. Times change.
But Nelson Mandela wasn't a "personality" politician. He was the leader of a movement and a model for the world. We'll be learning from his example long after the eulogies have ended.
Mandela the Teacher
Not long after his release from prison, Mandela made a cameo appearance in Spike Lee's film biography of Malcolm X. As the film ends he reads Malcolm X's words to a room full of schoolchildren:

"We declare our right on this Earth: to be a man, to be a human being, to be given the rights of a human being, to be respected as a human being; in this society, on this Earth, on this day which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary."

Mandela was making a strong political statement by reading those words to American film audiences in 1992, while he was still negotiating a transition plan with the apartheid government. (Today it may be a strong political statement to portray a schoolteacher for American audiences, given the coordinated political assault now underway against public schools and those who teach there.) Nelson Mandela had, and has, much to teach the rest of the world - about courage, about idealism, about leadership. His speeches to activists around the world, especially those who helped in the struggle against apartheid, often ended with words that would also be appropriate for a teacher addressing his students.
"We respect you," Mandela would say, "we admire you, and above all we love you."
Mandela the Fighter
Outside the Magistrates Court in Johannesburg stands a statue of young Nelson Mandela as a boxer. The sculpture is based on a 1953 photograph of Mandela sparring on a rooftop with a professional boxer named Jerry Moloi.
Nelson Mandela was a lawyer by training and an amateur boxer by avocation. He was not afraid to fight when fighting was called for. His willingness to read those words of Malcolm X's - "by any means necessary" - mirrored his own evolution as a leader.
We will hear much in the coming days about Mandela the peacemaker. We'll probably hear less about the underground years when peaceful means were denied to him. The world came to know a sage and grandfatherly figure, but in his youth Mandela was a powerful fighter for his ideals.
We're fortunate to live in a country where we have nonviolent tools for change, even if we sometimes lack the will to use them. But we have something to learn from Mandela the fighter, too: he could not have been a peacemaker in his later years if he had not been a fighter in his youth.
Mandela the Prisoner
27 years. 27 years in prison couldn't break the will of an individual or a movement.
Victory seemed impossible. Western nations opposed or ignored them. Their own nation treated them as subhuman. They were shot, beaten, starved, and tortured. Their words were never published in the papers, never heard on radio or TV. They were not allowed to congregate, to print their own literature, even to exist as a movement.
And yet, even after 27 years, they never gave up. Not Mandela, not his colleagues, not the people of South Africa.
In this country we're told that it's "politically impossible" to enact policies which reflect the needs of the majority. Nelson Mandela and the ANC gave the world a case study in accomplishing the "impossible," in much tougher conditions and against much longer odds than we will ever know.
They succeeded - by doing what's right, and by never giving up.
Mandela the Idealist
Mandela's movement went underground for many years because powerful forces had been closed off all peaceful avenues for change. One of those forces was the conservative movement - here, in Great Britain, and elsewhere. Right-wingers insisted that it was wrong to impose sanctions on South Africa or to pressure its government to grant democratic rights to its people.
Conservatives prolonged South Africa's suffering. They couldn't imagine that the freedom movement might win, couldn't see that in fact it was destined to win.
The Right: wrong again. This would be a good day for them to apologize.
Mandela united his country, but he didn't do it by trying to please everyone. He negotiated, but not before struggling wholeheartedly for his ideals - and only when he believed that negotiation served those ideals.
Mandela's Movement
A mobilized majority can accomplish great things. The will of a democratic majority can change the course of history. Mandela's movement had the power of the majority on its side.
Another powerful weapon against apartheid was the global movement which opposed it and fought for sanctions against South Africa. Those sanctions helped convince the white leadership a change was needed.
That movement extended beyond the borders of South Africa, encircling the world with a common goal and a shared belief: that when one nation is not free, no nation is free. Today, in this time of worldwide economic inequality and global free trade deals, we need that kind of global movement again.
Mandela's Mercy
President Mandela named his home "Genadendal," which we're told means "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. He tempered his justice with mercy. But justice came first.
Mandela offered clemency to his old enemies, which frustrated many of his allies, but he only did so after they acknowledged their wrongdoing. Our country has made a habit of offering premature clemency, whether to bankers or torturers, without so much as an admission of guilt or a willingness to make reparations.
Another lesson: Mercy is not surrender, and surrender is not mercy.
Mandela's Memory
Liliesleaf Farm, an underground hideout where several ANC leaders were arrested, is being marketed as a tourist attraction. I toured the surviving wing of Johannesburg's political prison alongside schoolchildren in uniforms, for whom the days of ANC struggle must seem as distant as 1776 did to us.
It would be tragic if Nelson Mandela were reduced to some kind of historical action figure. He has more to teach us, even now.
Mandela's embrace of the Springboks soccer team, memorialized in the film Invictus, was one of many conciliatory gestures - symbolic and substantial - that eased racial tensions and made him beloved by many white South Africans. I heard him spoken of admiringly in South Asian neighborhoods that were once "colored" townships, and in many villages (especially the ones not controlled by ANC's rivals in the Inkatha Party).
But South Africa suffers from severe economic inequality, dire poverty, and widespread violent crime. Corruption arose after apartheid suppressed generations of potential leaders. The ruling class imprisoned Mandela through decades when he might have been leading his country toward a better life.
Nelson Mandela had an egalitarian economic and social agenda, but first he needed to forge a nation out of bitterly divided communities. Had he been given more time, he might have come closer to realizing his vision of a just society. He leaves his nation with a mission as well as a memory.
Unfinished Work
His movement was South Africa's. But it's our movement, too, around the world and here in the United States. It's a movement for human rights, for the elimination of discrimination in all its forms, for the creation of an economy and a society where every human being is able to live up to her or his fullest potential.
We can remember Nelson Mandela by continuing the work of that movement, and by remembering through his example that nothing is impossible if the people are behind it. We can commemorate his life by pledging to finish what he started.
Nelson Mandela and his colleagues tore down prisons and built halls of justice in their place. Today his work is done. It's our work now, if we're worthy of it.
"There is no passion to be found playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."
- Nelson Mandela

Follow Richard (RJ) Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/whats-the-best-way-to-rem_b_4396244.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

Dick Cheney Didn't Regret His Vote Against Freeing Nelson Mandela, Maintained He Was A 'Terrorist'

In 1986, Nelson Mandela -- the former president of South Africa who died Thursday at the age of 95 -- was serving the 23rd year of what would ultimately be a 27-year prison sentence. The Western world was finally acknowledging the true horrors of Apartheid, a system of racial segregation that denied basic rights to blacks -- including citizenship and the right to vote -- and brutally oppressed a generation of South Africans fighting for equality.
In the U.S. Congress, lawmakers were ready to show their opposition to the South African regime with the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, a bill that called for tough sanctions and travel restrictions on the nation and its leaders, and for the repeal of apartheid laws and release of political prisoners like Mandela, then leader of the African National Congress (ANC).
The measure passed with bipartisan support, despite strong and largely Republican opposition. President Ronald Reagan was among those most opposed to the bill, and when he finally vetoed the measure over its support of the ANC, which he maintained was a "terrorist organization," it took another vote by Congress to override it. Among the Republicans who repeatedly voted against the measure was future Vice President Dick Cheney, then a Republican congressman from Wyoming.
Cheney's staunch resistance to the Anti-Apartheid Act arose as an issue during his future campaigns on the presidential ticket, but the Wyoming Republican has never said he regretted voting the way he did. In fact, in 2000, he maintained that he'd made the right decision.
“The ANC was then viewed as a terrorist organization," Cheney said on ABC's "This Week." "I don't have any problems at all with the vote I cast 20 years ago.''
Cheney went on to call Mandela a "great man" who had "mellowed" in the decade after his release from prison.
In 2004, Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards tore into his counterpart's congressional voting record, calling out Cheney for his vote against freeing Mandela. Shortly after, Cheney historian John Nichols said that he'd spoken to Mandela about Cheney's record and worldview. Like many, Mandela was concerned:

He’s very blunt about it he says one of the many reasons why he fears Dick Cheney’s power in the United States, and Mandela does say, he understands that Cheney is effectively the President of the United States, he says, one of the many reasons that he fears Dick Cheney’s power is that in the late 1980’s when even prominent Republicans like Jack Kemp and Newt Gingrich were acknowledging the crime of Apartheid, Dick Cheney maintained the lie that the ANC was a terrorist organization and a fantasy that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist leader who deserved to be in jail. Frankly it begs very powerful question. If Dick Cheney’s judgment was that bad in the late 1980’s, why would we believe that it’s gotten any better in the early 21st century?

A handful of sitting lawmakers also voted against freeing Mandela. GOP Reps. Joe Barton (Texas), Howard Coble (N.C.) and Hal Rogers (Ky.) opposed the Anti-Apartheid Act throughout the legislative process. Texas Rep. Ralph Hall, then a Democrat, voted against the bill, but did not vote on the veto override.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/dick-cheney-nelson-mandela-terrorist_n_4394071.html?ref=topbar

N'Kosi Sikeleli iAfrika (Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul Simon) & Remembering activist and peacemaker Nelson Mandela 5DEZ13

 
MORE on the life and death of Nelson Mandela, Madiba, from the PBS NewsHour after this video of N'Kosi Sikeleli iAfrika....And I have more on Nelson Mandela at Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), Inspiration To World, Dies At 95 Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika & Nelson Mandela (from Wikipedia) 5DEZ13 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/nelson-mandela-1918-2013-inspiration-to.html

 Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Paul Simon performing South Africa's National Anthem, 1989.
http://youtu.be/MFW7845XO3g

South African President Zuma on Mandela's death: 'Our people have lost a father'

 

The world remembers Nelson Mandela

 South African President Jacob Zuma mourns the death of Nelson Mandela Thursday.

http://youtu.be/gnMq0tUOPsU 
Former South African president Nelson Mandela dies Thursday at the age of 95.
Counting himself among the millions influenced by Mandela, President Barack Obama on Thursday mourned the death of the anti-apartheid icon with whom he shares the distinction of being his nation's first black president.
"He no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages," Obama said in a somber appearance at the White House.
South African President Jacob Zuma addressed a nation in mourning.
"We've lost our greatest son. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father," Zuma said. "Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss."
PBS NewsHour will continue to update this post as world leaders and others from around the globe speak on the loss of the former South African President and activist.
President Obama speaks to the nation on the passing of Nelson Mandela:

http://youtu.be/-yGgnot1P-8

Transcript

GWEN IFILL: Nelson Mandela's death was formally announced late today by South Africa's current president, Jacob Zuma.
He expressed the country's love and sense of loss for their iconic leader, often referred to, out of respect, by his clan name, Madiba.

PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA, South Africa: Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed.
He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20:50 on the 5th of December, 2013. He is now resting. He is now at peace.
Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world.
His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. Our thoughts are with the South African people, who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood.

MORE: How Nelson Mandela Survived His Years in Isolated South African Jail

Our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced Madiba as their own and who saw his cause as their cause.
This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son.
Yet, what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.
As we gather, wherever we are in the country and wherever we are in the world, let us recall the values for which Madiba fought. Let us reaffirm his vision of a society in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another.
Let us commit ourselves to strive together -- sparing neither strength nor courage -- to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
Let us express, each in our own way, the deep gratitude we feel for a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity.
 That is indeed the moment of our deepest sorrow. Yet it must also be the moment of our greatest determination, a determination to live as Madiba has lived, to strive as Madiba has strived, and to not rest until we have realized his vision of a truly united South Africa, a peaceful and prosperous Africa, and a better world.
We will always love you, Madiba. May your soul rest in peace.
God bless Africa.
JUDY WOODRUFF: That was South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma.
 
UPDATED 6:20 EST:
Message from The Nelson Mandela Foundation, The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation:

"It is with the deepest regret that we have learned of the passing of our founder, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela - Madiba. The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa will shortly make further official announcements.
We want to express our sadness at this time. No words can adequately describe this enormous loss to our nation and to the world.
We give thanks for his life, his leadership, his devotion to humanity and humanitarian causes. We salute our friend, colleague and comrade and thank him for his sacrifices for our freedom. The three charitable organisations that he created dedicate ourselves to continue promoting his extraordinay legacy.
Hamba Kahle Madiba"

Gathering outside Mandela's house:

Mzilikazi wa Afrika @IamMzilikazi

Follow

More and more people are arriving at Madiba's house

4:45 PM - 5 Dec 2013

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/watch-live-president-obama-speaks-on-nelson-mandela.html 

REPORT    AIR DATE: Dec. 5, 2013

Remembering South African leader Nelson Mandela's long walk to freedom

 http://youtu.be/LnGeMBNS9ZA

SUMMARY

Nelson Mandela will be remembered by the world for his peaceful pursuit of equal rights for all South Africans and as the post-apartheid nation's first president. Former NewsHour senior correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault looks back at the activist and peacemaker's 27 years in prison and his victory over decades of oppression.

Transcript

JUDY WOODRUFF: And now to a personal retrospective on the life of Nelson Mandela from one of our own.
Former NewsHour senior correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault covered the South African leader for more than a decade, and interviewed him on a number of occasions, from the time he left prison to his election as South Africa's president.

She prepared this remembrance.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: To my generation, the one that came of age in the '60s, Nelson Mandela was a towering man of myth and legend, of action and passion, of selfless sacrifice.
And before any of us ever dreamed, he became the embodiment of a notorious decades-long struggling against white oppression. Many would call that victory a miracle, Mandela the miracle maker.
These rare images from the book "Mandela: The Authorized Portrait" help us tell the story of Mandela's long walk to freedom.

MORE: Remembering the regal and gracious Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in a tiny rural village in the Transkei on South Africa's eastern coast. But it was here in neighboring Qunu that the man who was to become a legend was nurtured, spending some of the happiest years of his boyhood.
Qunu is a gentle place of rolling hills and farms, where children still play Mandela did when he wasn't laboring in these fields as a herd boy, looking after his mother few sheep and calves. In time, they would call him Madiba, his Xhosa clan name for respect.
Here, Xhosa boys, even ones like Mandela, descended from royalty, were shaped by Xhosa ritual and taboo, tradition that taught respect and responsibility for others. As Mandela grew into manhood, the Xhosa mantle of responsibility led him to fight against oppressive white minority rule that deprived and demeaned Mandela and his fellow Africans.
In 1948, oppression was legalized into a system known as apartheid. As a young lawyer in the 1940s, Mandela joined the African National Congress, an organization then dedicated to peacefully pursuing equal rights for all South Africans.
Mandela emerged as one of its leaders, staging mass rallies, strikes and campaigns of defiance against apartheid's unjust laws. But by 1960, the harsh white government's resistance to the ANC's peaceful process caused Mandela and his ANC colleagues to launch a military wing operating underground.
Their armed resistance was called Umkhonto we Sizwe, Spear of the Nation. The campaign was aimed at military industrial and civil installations, and not soft or human targets. But in time, the ANC's bombings and urban guerrilla warfare resulted in the deaths of more than 60 people, though exact figures aren't known. But their acts bore no comparison to the thousands murdered and otherwise disappeared by the regime.
NELSON MANDELA: There are many people who feel that it is useful and futile for us to continue talking peace and nonviolence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: In 1962, a vicious crackdown by the apartheid state was unleashed, and Mandela was caught up in the regime's wide net.
As he sat in prison, his ANC colleagues were also rounded up at a farm in an area outside of Johannesburg called Rivonia and jailed. In 1963, during what came to be called the Rivonia trial, the government tried and convicted Mandela and seven of the top command of the ANC on charges of sabotage aimed at fomenting violent revolution, a capital offense.
In June 1964, the eight were sentenced to life in prison. Even from his cell on Robben Island, the Alcatraz-like site of the country's harshest, most remote prison, six miles off the coast of Cape Town, Mandela was uncompromising, says Helen Suzman, then a particularly representative who spoke out against apartheid.
HELEN SUZMAN, former South African politician: He had no hesitation. He rattled off all the complaints about the bad food, the fact he was sleeping on sleeping rolls, not proper mattresses, the fact that the visits were too few and far between, and mostly about the behavior of a warden, yes, who has a tattoo on the back of his hand of the swastika. And he said, this man really is very bad. He treats us badly.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: But even then, Mandela was ever the statesman.
HELEN SUZMAN: His bearing, his self-confidence, remarkably self-confident man. He was never making outrageous remarks about the government. He was always thoughtful. And what he said was, you know, in keeping with someone who wanted peace.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: And he used the captive audience in prison to educate his young followers for the future he envisioned. They even called it Mandela University.
Tokyo Sexwale was one of the students.
TOKYO SEXWALE, African National Congress: And that's where he was teaching of the spirit of reconciliation, studying history, studying science, studying everything that we were supposed to equip ourselves, economics, to prepare ourselves for the new South Africa.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mandela's life sentence removed him physically from the fight against apartheid, but his spirit was felt throughout the townships of South Africa.
The government pressed hard to retain control of a black population that refused to be silenced. In 1985, I made my first trip to the land of Mandela's birth to find out what was driving the country's people, black and white, and also to determine how much of Mandela's spirit was still alive.
What -- what are you singing about? Tell me, what is this about? What is the song about?
GIRL: Mandela, Mandela.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mandela?
GIRL: Mandela.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mandela and...
(CROSSTALK)
WOMAN: We want Mandela to be released from jail.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Really?
WOMAN: And those who are exile to come back.
MAN: There's one man we all respect and we take him -- we call him our father, none other than Nelson Mandela.
If and only if that man can be released, and then we can see the direction of South Africa.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: From those otherwise dark days, a new direction was on the horizon, as pressure at home and abroad mounted on the regime.
The apartheid system was crumbling. Mandela, who had been moved to a different prison, began four years of secret negotiations with the government that would eventually lead to the release of many of the political prisoners and the unbanning of the ANC. Change seemed inevitable. And the South African foreign minister admitted as much in an interview with me following my reporting on South Africa for NewsHour in 1985.
ROELOF FREDERIK "PIK" BOTHA, former South Africa Foreign Minister: I made my position clear. We have said that we have outgrown apartheid.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: But Mandela's own release would not come for another five years, in 1990.
After 27 years, Nelson Mandela took his first steps as a free man. He was 71 years old. And few had seen him or any up-to-date photograph of him in all those years. At his side were now Winnie Mandela, his defiant wife who had kept his name and his message alive, and other comrades from the African National Congress.
NELSON MANDELA: Friends, comrades and fellow South Africans, I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
NELSON MANDELA: I stand here, before you, not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people. Today, the majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
NELSON MANDELA: It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: I left for South Africa as soon as I saw those pictures. And within a few days from his release from prison, I found myself sitting with him in his backyard in the black township of Soweto, where I soon gleaned insight into Mandela's iron resolve, as well as his humility.
NELSON MANDELA: We fought back. And as I -- I must stress again, I was not the only one who fought back. We all fought back.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: In what way? I mean, in what...
NELSON MANDELA: And the amount of bravery, of courage that was displayed was absolutely marvelous. And we had hunger strikes and resisted doing anything which we considered to be humiliating.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Were you aware of this mythical character that was being built up in the outside world, through portraits on television, movies, this sort of thing? And did that concern you at all, or...
NELSON MANDELA: Well, that worried me a bit.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Why?
NELSON MANDELA: Because I wanted to be presented as I am. And I'm an ordinary human being, with weaknesses. And you don't want that to be built up into something that you are not.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Still, Nelson Mandela was the man of the hour, and he wasted no time on efforts to dismantle the apartheid regime, even before a full United Nations assembly in 1990.
NELSON MANDELA: We know also that you harbor the hope that we will not relent or falter in the pursuit of that common vision, which should result in the transformation of South Africa into a country of democracy, justice, and peace.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: In 1993, the year before apartheid ended, Mandela shared his vision of a new South Africa as he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the man who had seen the handwriting on the wall and acted, the last apartheid president, F.W. De Klerk.
NELSON MANDELA: South Africa will be like a microcosm of the new way that is striving to be born. This must be a world of democracy and respect for human rights.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: But, in South Africa, change was accompanied as the last gasp of the regime as it backed black-on-black violence.
Still, Mandela's way prevailed. And on the 27th of April, 1994, Mandela himself voted for the first time in his life, at age 75.
A few days before, Mandela and I sat down in Johannesburg, and I got a rare glimpse into his steely side when I asked him about De Klerk's assertion that a liberation movement wouldn't know how to govern and that Mandela's presidency wouldn't be as powerful as his.
NELSON MANDELA: My power of persuasion is sufficient.
I have wielded power as a prisoner, without occupying any position, and Mr. De Klerk had to recognize that. We have taken decisions and forced him to use his legal powers. The decision was taken by us.
Take, for example, how he dismissed two ministers. We gave him an ultimatum that you must appoint a judicial commission to investigate the question of violence. He must dismiss a certain two ministers. And he came out and he said he would never do that.
We embarked on mass action. He was forced to do exactly what he said he would never do. So, we have wielded power even before we assumed the government of the country. And that is how the situation should be examined.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: On May 10, 1994, Nelson Mandela took another giant step on a journey that took him from prisoner to president.
NELSON MANDELA: We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity -- a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Elements of the repressive apartheid past remained, but Mandela and his young government rose above them, insisting on forgiveness and reconciliation, which would become the hallmark of his presidency.
NELSON MANDELA: It is necessary for one to heal the wounds of the past if you're going to build your country and to have unity.
I am working with people who fought me very bitterly before the elections. It was my responsibility, as the man who is leading the majority party, my responsibility to heal the wounds of the past and to work with people who were my opponents.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mandela kept his part of the bargain, enabling a forum offering amnesty in exchange for truth about apartheid-era atrocities on all sides. It was called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Countless black victims came forward, but almost none of the whites who had ordered or committed atrocities did or told the truth. But the process is credited with averting a bloodbath as the government changed from white to black hands. Moreover, Mandela's government put to rest concerns that the ANC's past leftist rhetoric would lead to nationalizing the economy. Instead, he told the world his country would be a democratic, capitalist society, and kept his word.
Mandela's government also established principles of redress aimed at bringing blacks into the economic mainstream, while building millions of houses and providing basic services that didn't exist for the poor, not enough and not fast enough for all, but enough to earn the gratitude of millions and the patience of most of its long-suffering people.
But Mandela's own personal life suffered. The Mandelas divorced. Mandela stepped down after serving only one term, setting a new standard on a continent of presidents for life.
At the same time, Mandela had set the bar so high, it would be close to impossible for anyone to fill his shoes or to think of South Africa as anything but a miracle nation, a perception that would belie South Africa's down-to-earth realities and create problems for anyone not the icon Mandela had become, not least because the icon stayed in the adoring public's eye.
On his 80th birthday, Mandela married his third wife, Graca Machel, widow of Mozambican President Samora Machel.
As his physical walk became more labored, Mandela announced his retirement from public life.
NELSON MANDELA: Don't call me.
(LAUGHTER)
NELSON MANDELA: I will call you.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: But, even in his later years, Mandela kept on walking, joined by his wife in their advocacy for the world's children and boldly making up for the silence and inattention on HIV and AIDS dating back to his own time in office.
Mandela had come to realize the disease was overwhelming the country he loved and threatening the very future he sought to ensure, not least taking the life of his one remaining son. Mandela took on AIDS as a public crusade and spoke out forcefully about the need for others in high positions to join him, though few did.
NELSON MANDELA: I am alive because the people gave me love and support. And that is why I am here today to deal with your questions. So, there is no difference whatsoever between somebody who is HIV-positive and myself.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mandela was equally passionate about children, the nation's, his own and Graca Machel's. And in time, he even brought Winnie back into the family fold.
And that extended family will join a cast of millions who will honor him from far and near as he becomes an ancestor, buried in the Mandela family cemetery in his quiet village of Qunu, free at last from his epic journey, free to take a moment of rest on his now long walk to eternity.
GWEN IFILL: That's Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/july-dec13/obit_12-05.html

 ANALYSIS    AIR DATE: Dec. 5, 2013

Why the world aspires to live up to the legacy left by Mandela

SUMMARY

Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff reflect on Nelson Mandela's life with Donald Gips, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, John Stremlau of the Carter Center, Gay McDougall, Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, and Douglas Foster, author of "After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa."

Transcript

GWEN IFILL:  For more on Nelson Mandela's life and legacy, we turn to four people who knew him or watched South Africa's emergence from apartheid.
Gay McDougall was a member the South African Election Commission, which administered the country's first democratic non-racial elections in 1994.  Prior to that, she served as director of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.  Douglas Foster is the author of "After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa."  He's an associate professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.  Donald Gips served as U.S. ambassador to South Africa from 2009 to 2013.  And John Stremlau is vice president for peace programs at the Carter Center.  He taught at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Welcome to you all.
Gay McDougall, what is your first reaction tonight on hearing of the loss of Nelson Mandela?
GAY MCDOUGALL, Member, Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa:  Well, I'm terribly sad.
Of course, we all expected it.  We knew it was coming.  But, nevertheless, it is a shock.  And it's quite saddening.  I think, first of all, of the people of South Africa who will be mourning in a very special way.  But I think of us all around the world have lost a hero, a hero that we desperately needed when he came forward and gave us hope.

RELATED INFORMATION

Remembering activist and peacemaker Nelson Mandela

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Well, as we continue this conversation, we want to -- we do want to say to local stations, because of the special nature of tonight's program, that we are not going to be taking a break tonight, so that we can continue to discuss Nelson Mandela's life and legacy.
And I want to pick up with you, Professor John Stremlau.
You taught, as Gwen just said, in South Africa for a number of years after Nelson Mandela was released.  What did you see of the man?  What did he mean to his country?
JOHN STREMLAU, Carter Center:  Well, he means everything for his country.
And I think the challenge is to live up to the example he set, as President Obama indicated.  What was great about Mandela was his respect for the rule of law.  Think about it just for a moment -- 27 years in jail under an illegitimate legal system, and to come and to defend the rule of law above all else.
When he was asked to appear in court as a sitting president, his advisers said, no, no, no, you can't do it.  You can't appear in this case on rugby and discrimination that he had asserted.  It was a libel suit of some sort.  And he said, look, no man is above the law, and so I will be there.
I think he inherited this stubborn sense of freedom -- fairness, as he described himself once, from his father.  It was that stubborn sense of fairness which kept the process on track.  And we Americans owe him and the country of South Africa a great debt, because nothing would have torn this country apart in the 1970s and perhaps into the '80s than a race war in South Africa.
So, I -- all I want to do is to celebrate this wonderful, wonderful man.
GWEN IFILL:  I would actually like to pick up that, Ambassador Gips, because, by the time you arrived in Johannesburg as ambassador from the U.S., you had been appointed by an African-American president.
You went -- you were there and saw the legacy, the real legacy, the current-day legacy of Nelson Mandela in South Africa.  And how did it resonate?
DONALD GIPS, Former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa:  It resonated incredibly.  His presence still drives the country.
You know, from people on the street to people in government, everyone aspires to live up to the legacy he left.  It is a difficult challenge to live up to someone of his iconic nature, but he really inspired all of us, I think, around the world.
And the message that he left for all of us is one that I think the world needs, whether it's our Congress or people around the world, of putting -- putting aside our differences to work for the greater good.
You know, I was so inspired -- my most inspiring moment in South Africa was actually holding some of the letters that he wrote from prison at the Center for Memory and reading about what he gave up to fight for freedom and to fight for a better South Africa for everyone.
And I think if -- given what he gave up, we all need to take this moment and decide how we can make the world a better place.
JUDY WOODRUFF:  Douglas Foster, you got to know the Mandela family.
In the last decade, you moved to South Africa for a time to write a book about what -- after Mandela, the struggle for freedom after his time as president.  What -- how did you experience this?  What would you add to this question of his effect on the country?
DOUGLAS FOSTER, Author, "After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa":  Sure.
I got to know the old man, as everybody calls him in South Africa, through his grandchildren, primarily through his grandson Ndaba.  And the last time I saw him at his home in Johannesburg, he did this typically puckish, mischievous thing.
As my son and I entered the room, he said, "Ah, it's nice that young people still come to an old man who has nothing new to say."
I think one of the important legacies of Nelson Mandela is to have given the challenge to the half of the population in South Africa that is 24 and under and didn't have direct experience of conditions under apartheid to understand that this is their moment and a time to shape the freedom that was on in their names.
I think that the South African editor Ferial Haffajee wrote recently that Mandela had prepared his people for his passing in an unusual way, she said -- quote -- "like a good parent" -- unquote.
And I think that's worth marking on a day like this, that most leaders attempt to assert indispensability.  That's their sense of their own role in life.  I think one of Nelson Mandela's great gifts was to live long enough and also to be conscious enough about what it means to step away from power that he has given his people the gift of dispensability.  The great experiment in creating a non-racial, non-sexist, non-homophobic and more egalitarian society at the Southern Tip of Africa survives him.
GWEN IFILL:  Ambassador Gips, we know you have to move on from us in a few moments, so I want to circle back to you for a moment and just ask you a sense about whether Nelson Mandela's one term as president of South Africa and his heroic status, whether that had an effect on surrounding countries, on the region, on Africa as a continent?
DONALD GIPS:  Oh, I think he inspires people around the continent and around the world.
I think -- I witnessed people coming to South Africa to pay tribute to him during the World Cup and at other moments.  There is no greater figure in my lifetime.  And I think, as President Obama said, he's his inspiration.  So, I think he has inspired people not just in South Africa or in Africa, but around the world.
But, in the end, what he did in South Africa is an example that we all need to follow.
GWEN IFILL:  Gay McDougall, how do you explain the essence of Nelson Mandela?  What gave him that impossible-to-understand strength that he had to come out of prison after 27 years and to go on to be the great leader that he was?
GAY MCDOUGALL:  Well, he is quite a remarkable individual.
That's -- I don't think there's no question about that.  He has a certain regalness to him, but also a sort of down-home folksiness to him as well, but I think the mixture of knowing how to handle and to deal with power, yet seeing himself very much as a member of a collective of decision-makers, as a member of a liberation movement, of a political party, of South Africans as a whole.
I will never forget the really transcendent moment that I was privileged to spend -- to share with him when he voted for the first time in 1994.  I was there as a member of the commission that ran the elections then.  And President Mandela had put my name forward to be on the commission.
But it was a remarkable moment for him and for his nation.  And, you know, all of the suffering and struggle that had occurred before that moment was now telescoped through him and into the future, as he dropped his ballot into that box.
So he has been a manifestation of all of the hopes and dreams and aspirations and -- of his country.  And he's been able to articulate that and to live a life that was worthy of that.
GWEN IFILL:  John Stremlau, I'm curious. In watching Charlayne's piece, it was interesting to see his personality and his political side as well.  He talked about his own -- his own -- how much he was convinced in the power of his own moral suasion.
Was that an essential part of his success and his -- his legacy as well?
JOHN STREMLAU:  Well, absolutely, Gwen.
The one error in the presentation, which is understandable, is when he said he's just an ordinary man.  This was certainly no ordinary man.  He had an appreciation of the humanity in all of us.  He took an inspiration from Dr. King.  He understood what the civil rights struggle was in this country.
And he understood what tolerance and justice is for all.  He's helped to make South Africa, which now celebrates next year 20 years of democracy -- we are celebrating 50 years of a movement toward greater racial justice in our own country -- what it meant to be part of a global, truly global community.  And he appreciated the interest and support that he got from everywhere.
But he also was willing to sort of look at the individual in his own country and say, you matter, and what you do really does count for something.
And so, as a professor, the born free, so-called, now, the new generation of kids coming along who didn't know apartheid, they have to be reimbued with this Mandela ethic, as was said earlier in the -- in the obituary.
JUDY WOODRUFF:  And Douglas Foster, pick up on that, and talk about why he was the beacon that he was for the rest of the world.  People do amazing things and -- but -- but when you think about him, I mean, he really stands apart.
DOUGLAS FOSTER:  Well, I think it's partly in the context -- if you think about the idea of contingency in history, he stitched together so many divergent parts of South African culture -- divergent parts of South African culture.
He grew up as a shoeless cowherd.  He went to the city and made something new of himself as a lawyer.  But then he traded in that privilege, that hard-earned privilege to become a figure who was denounced as a terrorist in the United States and in South Africa, endured those prison years, as Charlayne told us, and came out with a singular vision of a different kind of society, and drove towards it so relentlessly.
I think it's that commitment and consistency, the requirement of a very disciplined mind and a very steely man, too.  As -- as much as we're tempted on a day like this to only sing praises about the soft and warm side, he didn't succeed by being a pushover.  He succeeded by being very tough, very strategic, and -- and committed, absolutely committed to a vision during periods where one wouldn't have guessed that it would succeed.
GWEN IFILL:  Gay McDougall, here in Washington, outside of the remodeled South African Embassy, there is a statue going up in which Mandela has his fist in the air.  And he's right across the street from Winston Churchill, who has his victory sign in the air.  It's quite a place on Massachusetts Avenue.
It's tempting in moment like this to look at the past and -- and not to look at the present and the future.  So, as you think about Nelson Mandela tonight, and you think legacy, how do you think about his effect on the present and the future?
GAY MCDOUGALL:  Well, I think that he stands for the importance of personal commitment, for being true to one's principles, of working with people who share that kind of a vision, and of modeling a new kind of leadership for the future.
I think these are all lessons that young people in the United States, as well as throughout Africa, are going to continuously turn to.  He is a figure that is going to, in many ways, live forever.  His lessons to us will live forever.
And so while I think we all of course his passing, I feel that, you know, very soon, we will be taken with how much of a gift his life has been to all of us.
JUDY WOODRUFF:  Well, Gay McDougall, we thank you.
We thank Professor Stremlau, John Stremlau, and Douglas Foster.  We also want to thank Ambassador Gips, who was with us for a few minutes.  We appreciate your joining us on this day.
DOUGLAS FOSTER:  Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF:  And PBS' special coverage of Mandela's death includes a FRONTLINE documentary, "The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela: An Intimate Portrait of One of the 20th Century's Greatest Leaders."  You can watch that online at PBS.org.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/july-dec13/guests_12-05.html