Nelson Mandela, a South African activist and icon, passed away yesterday (December 5).
He was 95.
Like many emcees and others, Kendrick Lamar wrote about Nelson Mandela through social media.
“Advising all my young ones that follow me to research a small piece of Nelson Mandela Life,” Lamar wrote on Twitter. “That’s how you pay your respect.”
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Following Mandela’s passing, South African President Jacob Zuma also spoke about Mandela’s legacy.
“Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” President Jacob Zuma said, according to cnn.com. “What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.”
President Barack Obama also spoke about Mandela’s passing yesterday. The President of the United States also acknowledged Mandela’s achievements in his statement.
“We’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth,” President Obama said in a statement. “He no longer belongs to us — he belongs to the ages.”
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Mandela was a founder of an African National Congress (ANC) youth league, according to cnn.com. Mandela was also a member of the ANC and fought against apartheid, a government-imposed system that enacted racial segregation and removed economic and political opportunities from non-whites. Mandela fought against apartheid peacefully at first, but in 1961, Mandela created the military group Spear of the Nation, as per nbcnews.com.
“My people, Africans, are turning to deliberate acts of violence and of force against the government in order to persuade the government, in the only language which this government shows by its own behavior that it understands,” Mandela said during this period in time, as per cnn.com.
In 1962, Mandela was arrested and accused of treason. He spent 27 years in prison.
At his trial, Mandela reportedly gave a speech that lasted more than four hours. The speech contained information about his message and regarding his beliefs.
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“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination,” he said at the trial, according to cnn.com. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Mandela later served as South Africa’s president.
In July 2010, Mandela spoke about how he wished to be remembered, as per cnn.com.
“I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries,” he said. “The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.”
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Kendrick Lamar’s Twitter post can be found below.
As reported yesterday, several others have also addressed Mandela’s passing and history via social media.
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