Today, anti-apartheid leader and former South African
President Nelson Mandela is marking his 95th birthday in a hospital
bed in Pretoria.
Although his doctors say his health is steadily improving
from a lung infection, at the risk of sounding pessimistic, I sense this may be
the last birthday that he and his family celebrate.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years in prison after
being convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. Following
a successful international lobbying campaign, Mandela was released in 1990.
Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a world tour, which included a visit to U.S.
cities, including Oakland, California.
As a reporter for the Fairfield-Suisun City Daily Republic, I covered his final stop
of his U.S. tour at the Oakland Coliseum. I pestered my city editor, saying that
this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and that all San Francisco Bay Area media
needed to cover this, especially since I knew several Solano County residents
who would attend Mandela’s visit. My city editor relented.
When I arrived at the Coliseum on Saturday, June 30, 1990, I
was surrounded by 58,000 people and media crews from throughout California and
other countries. I worked the stands and interviewed two Vallejo residents and
Seretha Jefferson of Fairfield, who wore a broad-brimmed straw hat and flowery
dress to see Mandela. Once on the ground, Mandela appeared onstage, as music
played and the chorus sang: “Freeeee Nelson Mandela!”
I admit at that point I lost all objectivity and danced and
cheered on the field. Epic journalism fail.
Quoting The New York
Times story of his Oakland visit, “the deputy president of the African
National Congress smiled broadly and told the crowd, ‘Despite my 71 years, at
the end of this visit I feel like a young man of 35. I feel like an old battery
that has been recharged. And if I feel so young, it is the people of the United
States of America that are responsible for this.’”
My story ran in the Daily
Republic on page 1 as a sidebar to Associated Press coverage on Mandela’s
visit. I was humbled to have been half a football field from greatness.
My prayers are with Mr. Mandela, his family, his friends,
and his country.
Writing Diva
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