The long walk to freedom

I haven’t read “Long walk to freedom” to the end, quite the opposite actually. I am on page 216 of this 751 page volume. Nevertheless I could not wait to get to the end before I shared this inspiring excerpt.

Before I share I need you to understand that for me, it is no longer an issue of Black vs White. That’s history where I am concerned, what bothers me today is Africa- our political systems, our economic systems, how we treat our fellow African and what we have achieved post-Independence.  And so our forefathers liberated our nations but then what…?

Back to Mandela, I am thoroughly enjoying this book. I think I will write a review once I am done.

Here is the excerpt-

“I cannot pinpoint a moment when I became politicized, when I knew I would spend mylife in the liberation struggle. To be an Africa in South Africa means that one is politicized from the moment of one’s birth, whether one acknowledges it or not. An African child is born in an African hospital, taken home in an African only bus, lives in an African only area and attends African only school, if attends school at all.

When he grows up he can hold African only jobs, rent a house in African only townships, ride African only trains and be stopped at any time of day or night and be ordered to produce a pass, without which he will be arrested and thrown in jail. His life is circumscribed by racist laws and regulations that cripple his growth dim his potential and stunt his life. This was the reality and one can deal with it in a myriad if ways.

I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said “hence forth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead I simply found myself doing so and could not do otherwise”.

After men such as Nelson Mandela sacrificed their freedom and others their lives in order to attain freedom for Africa what have we done…

During rallies and protests, they would to sing “Mayibuye Africa” let Africa come back, I say we continue with the song until finally Africa comes back…