S P O N S O R E D B Y :
Obama Pays Tribute to Mandela's Courage
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
August 29, 2006
Sen.
Barack Obama started a two-week tour of Africa on Sunday with a visit to Nelson
Mandela's former prison island, paying tribute to the "incredible courage,
resilience and hopefulness" of the anti-apartheid movement.
The only
black member of the U.S. Senate and one of the Democratic Party's rising stars,
Obama said the two-hour visit to Robben
Island
made him realize that everyday worries in the
United
States
were "fairly trivial stuff compared to the very elemental, basic struggle" of
Mandela and other former inmates.
Obama's late father was a goat herder
who went on to become a Harvard-educated government economist for his native
Kenya.
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The senator was guided around the island by Ahmed Kathrada, who was
sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 with Mandela and other leaders of the
resistance to white racist rule.
Kathrada was classified as Indian,
which—according to apartheid's laws—made him superior to black South Africans.
He was allowed to wear long trousers and socks and got bigger helpings of food.
Mandela, Sisulu and all the black detainees suffered the humiliation of
wearing shorts and petty discrimination like not being allowed syrup or jam at
breakfast, he said.
"It is a reminder of the extraordinary struggle that
not only Mandela went through but people all over the world go through to obtain
things that we take for granted," said Obama. "To stand in Mandela's cell and
have a sense of the incredible courage, resilience and hopefulness of these men
puts into perspective the work we do back home."
Obama said he hopes
that his trip, which will include a trip to his father's home in
Kenya,
along with visits to Congo
and Chad,
will help improve ties between the United
States
and the continent and will give him a better perspective on problems such as
HIV/AIDS.
He is due to visit AIDS patients and meet activists in the
impoverished township
of Khayelitsha
on Monday. (AP)
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