opinion
Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela
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L
iterally millions of people
on each continent through-
out the world paused on
July 18, 2011 to recognize and to
celebrate the birthday of the living
legend, Nelson Mandela. As an
African American, I personally
joined the ranks of the African
National Congress more than 40
years ago while I was a younger
Black community activist and
organizer for the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
and the United Church of Christ
Commission
for
Racial
Justice. Today, at the wisdom age
of 93, Nelson Mandela still stands
tall as a living symbol of the tri-
umph of the long protracted strug-
gle of humanity for freedom, jus-
tice and equality.
We celebrate the birth and con-
tinuing leadership of one of the
world’s greatest freedom fighters.
Nelson Mandela is a father, grand-
father and a serious family man.
Even during his long unjust
imprisonment for over 27 years,
he never lost his sense of perspec-
tive about the importance of his
family and the leadership of the
ANC investing the spirit and ide-
ology of the freedom struggle in
the youth of South Africa. The
youth of the ANC, who later
would rise up in such an irrepress-
ible unity and focus that caused
even the rigid foundations of
apartheid to collapse and fall.
Mandela embodies what it means
to be an African transformation
visionary who not only fought
hard and long to free South Africa
from the ruthless apartheid
regime, but also who became the
first Black President of South
E DUCATION
S ERVICES
Benjamin F.
Chavis Jr.
Africa with a universal sense of
global dignity, integrity and
respect.
I believe today that the first
Black President of the United
States of America, President
Barack H. Obama can also learn
from the legacy of Nelson
how to unite a divided nation in
order to summon a common,
inclusive, transformative and par-
ticipatory agenda that takes the
nation forward in the face of fierce
“reactionary” head winds that are
determined to take the nation
backwards.
The current divisive debate in
the United States on increasing the
national debt limit to avoid eco-
nomic default and catastrophe is
yet another classic example of
politicians putting their narrow
political and economic views over
the common good for the
nation. But, some would join me
I believe today that the first Black
President of the United States of
America, President Barack H. Obama
can also learn from the legacy of
Nelson Mandela
Mandela. When Mandela became
President of South Africa, it was
not an easy task. It was difficult
and trying on every issue because
of the history of racial oppression
and economic exploitation. But,
Mandela rose to the occasion with
a masterful astuteness that even
brought his political opponents to
see and value his inclusive vision
for a “new” South Africa. Yes,
there are vast differences between
the United States and South
Africa. My point, however, is that
President Obama has a similar trial
and tribulation that Mandela had:
in saying that this was exactly why
the majority of people who voted
in the United States elected
President Barack Obama to rise to
every occasion to help the nation
move forward and not backward.
President Obama, like President
Mandela in the past, will have to
transcend the retrenchment bound-
aries of partisan politics toward a
“new” America that cares more
about all its people without the
stagnate lethargy of the status quo
elite who have little or no concern
for the downtrodden and margin-
alized masses of people who are
crying out for a better way of life
in America. Neither South Africa
or the United States is perfect, but
both nations are still evolving and
it will take strong leadership to
lead both nations in the broader
context of the global community
to achieve greater progress for all
of humanity. The global economy
needs global leadership that views
and values diversity, but bonds
and binds the global community
together with the best of govern-
mental, as well as grass roots,
leadership and empowerment for
all.
In my last face to face private
visit with Nelson Mandela and
Russell Simmons in southern
Africa, we discussed how impor-
tant it was for the diamond indus-
try and other extractive industries
to invest in the empowerment of
Africa. Shortly thereafter and tak-
ing the wisdom of Mandela seri-
ously, Russell, I and others from
the industry established the
Diamond Empowerment Fund
(DEF) to provide financial support
for the higher education of young
African leaders from diamond
producing
nations
in
Africa. Business leaders and gov-
ernment leaders can and should do
so much more. Africans can learn
from us, but equally important,
there is so much we can learn from
Africans. We are working now in
South Africa and Botswana. Soon
we will be in the Democratic
Republic
of
the
Congo
(DRC). We are advocating con-
cern about all the minerals and
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Michele Bachmann: what is She Saying?
A
s you probably have read
in press accounts and seen
on
TV,
Michele
Bachmann,
the
Republican
Congressional
Representative
from Minnesota, has declared that
she is running for president.
Michele has stumbled several
times out of the gate, on her road
to the White House, but don’t tell
her that. Bachmann’s “American
Girl” dazzling looks and her status
as the “darling of the Tea Party
Movement” seems to be keeping
her in good stead with her vocal
constituency, and may be adding
to her “teflonness,” similar to the
Ronald Reagan phenomena. You
remember the “Gipper”? The
more he stumbled and bumbled;
the more they loved him. All he
had to do was hang his head
sheepishly, give an aww shucks
face and America forgave his mis-
steps.
Bachmann, who announced her
candidacy in Iowa at the end of
June, according to Florida’s St.
Petersburg Times’ fact-checking
Web site, politifact.com, has not
gotten it right at least 19 times in
recent
statements.
The
Congresswoman’s
inaccuracy
quotient includes a statement
about how many barrels of oil
President Obama released from oil
reserves. Bachmann claimed the
President released all of the oil
reserve to abate escalating prices
at the pump, when in reality the
President approved a release of a
Page 4 The Portland Skanner July 20, 2011
W EStChEStEr C OuNty
Linda Tarrant-Reid
mere 4 percent of the oil in stor-
age. Bachmann also got it wrong
when she told conservative Iowan
conference attendees that Obama’s
administration had only issued one
drilling permit since he came into
office. The fact is that before the
Gulf oil spill, the Obama
Administration had issued 217
drilling permits, after the spill and
their spelling not mine. Did she
read the preamble? Her people
say that she only signed the “can-
didate vow” page, so does that
mean she didn’t read the whole
document? That’s a problem. But
the bigger problem is surely the
words on the first page of the mar-
riage pact; that were subsequently
deleted when the blogosphere
went wild, which stated:
“Slavery had a disastrous impact
on African-American families, yet
sadly a child born into slavery in
1860 was more likely to be raised
I don’t think Bachmann’s team did
their homework or, maybe, it just
doesn’t matter to her campaign what
African American voters think of her
and her views
with new regulations in place; the
Administration announced that
they had granted more than 35
shallow-water permits, and since
the moratorium on issuing deep-
water well permits was lifted in
October, 2010, seven have been
approved.
For me, Michele Bachmann’s
most egregious gaffe was when
she signed the The Marriage Vow:
A Declaration of Dependence
upon Marriage and Family to get
the support of Bob Vander Plaat’s
group, THE FAMiLY LEADER,
by his mother and father in a two-
parent household than was an
African-American baby born after
the election of the USA’s first
African-American President.”
Oh my goodness! In order to
slam the first Black President of
the United States of America, this
conservative Christian organiza-
tion took slavery, the vilest institu-
tion that was ever propagated in
the USA, and twisted the facts to
make slavery a family-friendly
experience for enslaved Africans.
Not so for Black Americans who
are still struggling against the
residual effects of slavery four
hundred years later. Anyone with
just a little bit of knowledge about
slavery knows that the families of
the enslaved were deliberately
wrenched apart by slaveholders to
erode family support and destroy
the kinship networks that made
Black people strong. It was essen-
tial to the success of the British
Mercantile Empire that slave fam-
ilies – men, women and children –
be separated and distributed to far
flung plantations throughout the
colonies, in order to serve as the
backbone of their well-developed
economic system.
Enslaved
women were repeatedly raped and
impregnated by the white slave
owners creating a bastardized
family unit, into which more
enslaved children were born.
I don’t think Bachmann’s team
did their homework or, maybe, it
just doesn’t matter to her cam-
paign what African American vot-
ers think of her and her views.
After all, she’s not really going
after the Black vote anyway. And
that’s why it’s important for voters
to pay very close attention to each
of the candidates in the
Presidential race and in all of the
races for those seeking political
office, because what they are say-
ing ultimately mirrors their
beliefs.
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