Quote of the day, about homophobia in Africa

 “Homophobia is un-African, and that homosexuality is not.”

--Wanuri Kahiu, Kenyan Film Director

The power of truth and reconciliation, not vengeance, by Mandela and Tutu

From the Daily Dish:

Mandela refused to grant legal absolution to the perpetrators of apartheid’s crimes until they publicly confessed their guilt. In the run-up to South Africa’s first free elections, de Klerk granted clemency to 4,000 members of the South African police and security services. But after winning those elections, the ANC overturned de Klerk’s action and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which required detailed, public confessions by anyone seeking amnesty. In the words of Mandela ally Bishop Desmond Tutu, who ran the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth…because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.”

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/12/09/what-mandela-asked-of-his-oppressors/

This may be the most touching flash mob performance I have seen. From South Africa in memory of Mandela

Jon Stewarts points out that Obama's handshake with Raul Castro was appropriate at a memorial service for a man who was lauded for forgiving his opponents

Obama has more grace than the entire tea party.

What a moment: President Obama receives a warm, enthusiastic welcome in South Africa as he eloquently eulogizes Mandela. Watch this...

Madiba: revolutionary. reconciler. humanist.

Forgive but don't forget: in 1986 the Congress overrode Reagan's veto of the Anti-Apartheid Act, which put severe measures on the South African government

From PolicyMic:

Ronald Reagan was angry. It was October 1986, and his veto against the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act had just been overridden — and by a Republican-controlled Senate, at that.

He had appeared on TV a month earlier to warn Americans against the Anti-Apartheid Act, decrying it as "immoral" and "utterly repugnant." Congress disagreed, and one month later, it produced the two-thirds majority needed to override Reagan and pass tough new measures against South Africa's apartheid government. These measures included a ban on bank loans and new investments in South Africa, a sharp reduction of imports, and prevented most South African officials from traveling to the United States. The Act also called for the repeal of apartheid laws and the release of political prisoners like African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela, who had spent the last 23 years in prison.

It is difficult to fully comprehend the evils of apartheid today. Blacks were denied citizenship and the right to vote. They were forcibly relocated into impoverished reservations. People of color were barred from operating businesses or owning land inside white areas, which comprised most of the country. Sexual relations or marriage between people of color and whites was strictly forbidden. Racial segregation was enforced in public areas, including schools, hospitals, trains, beaches, bridges, churches and theaters. To enforce apartheid, the government often resorted to police brutality, the imprisonment and assassination of political dissidents, and the murder of black protesters.

The new constitution of South Africa treats all people equally, including the LGBT. Nelson Mandel was a champion of LGBT rights

THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH AFRICA

Chapter 2 - Bill of Rights

Equality

9. (1) Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.

(2) Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights freedoms. To promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken.

(3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.

(4) No person my unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds in terms of subsection (3). National legislation must be enacted to prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination.

From Queerty, here are six examples of Mandela’s leadership that have earned him a place of honor in LGBT history.

1. Led South Africa to become the first country on the continent to ban antigay discrimination. Mandela was a vocal supporter of antidiscrimination protections from the very beginning of his presidency, in 1994. The country finally banned discrimination in 1998.
2. Was a leader for marriage equality well before it was popular. Mandela never had to evolve on marriage equality. He was supporting it almost 20 years ago. As a direct result, South Africa become the first country in Africa and fifth in the world to recognize marriage equality in 2006.
3. Put his words into action. Mandela didn’t just pay lip service to LGBT issues. He was willing to appoint gay people to high positions at a time when the country was far less accepting. Among his early appointees was Edwin Cameron, who has risen to become a judge on South Africa’s highest court. By comparison, how many openly gay justices are there on the U.S. Supreme Court.
4. Set an example for other countries. Homophobia remains a problem in many other African nations, but Mandela held such authority that he is a shame-inducing counterargument to state-sanctioned repression.
5. Showed the U.S. how it can be done. The nation that Mandela helped forge from the ruins of apartheid had marriage equality years before the U.S. and has formally banned antigay discrimination (which has yet to happen in the U.S.). In many ways the country has been far ahead of the U.S. on gay rights, at least politically.