Those who have sought to change the heart and soul of Mr. Mandela are also altering the history and legacy of one of the world’s greatest leaders. This same tactic has been used to modify the image and contributions of one of America’s greatest leaders, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The media, in an attempt to soften his image, never present Mandela the revolutionary, a militant leader who believed in the violent overthrow of his people’s oppressors. After the famous Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, Mandela co-founded the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), which functioned as the armed wing of the ANC (African National Congress). The actions associated with this group are what ultimately landed him in jail: Mr. Mandela sacrificed 27 years of his life at Robben Island prison. The original charge of treason was reduced to sabotage, a charge that netted Mandela, and the revolutionaries who fought with him, a lifetime prison sentence.
Mandela advocated for income equality, the redistribution of wealth, and the redistribution of land—and for that revolutionary advocacy he was labeled a terrorist by the government of the United States of America, a designation that was not changed until 2008, many years after he was elected the president of one of Africa’s leading nations. The year Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, the US government still kept the former South African president on the terrorist watch list.