Personal Reflection: Remembering Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was the shining example of grace and dignity on this earth, with politics that tore at the limits of nonviolence within a surreal, dystopian society. He awakened my intellectual fire and later conquered a world.

His words, work, and persistence insisted that I be conscious. He was my Sengbe Pieh, Harriet Tubman, Ella Baker, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Angela Davis. He made me learn of front lines and about places I rarely considered—Angola, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique.

I am so glad I got to be present with him—a quick moment from within a crowd. I felt my heart banging and I cried. I’ll cry again.

Long live his spirit that gave me the first movement in which I felt I was an active participant. It pleases me that I will have deep memories of the time we lived on this earth together.

Peace to Nelson Mandela.

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This reflection also appeared as part of BU Today’s “Remembering Nelson Mandela: BU community weighs antiapartheid leader’s towering legacy.”