Mumia Abu-Jamal remembers Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s visit
source: DemocracyNOW!
first published: 28 December 2021
Image Credit: Al Jazeera
From all of our hundreds of Remembrance Calendar entries, we particularly feature certain cases that were of notable historical significance.
Bishop Desmond Tutu
Mumia Abu-Jamal remembers South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday at the age of 90. Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting to end apartheid in South Africa.
In 2007, Tutu visited Mumia when he was still on death row. “His spirit reflected a giant,” says Abu-Jamal. “He struggled for change with his prophetic voice, his sweet humor, his deep love and his boundless sense of compassion”
Mumia said: “Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1931-2021. Almost a century ago, a little African boy was born to a small family in a small town where gold mining was the chief industry. The town was Klerksdorp, in what was then called the Transvaal.
“Father was a teacher, and a young boy wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. But the politics of white supremacy, known by the term “apartheid,” prevented him from making that choice. That policy, developed by the National Party after it won election in 1948, passed a law called the Bantu Education Act of 1953, legalizing racial segregation in schools.
“That state decision forced Desmond Mpilo Tutu to change from teacher to preacher. A new history was written. Desmond Tutu studied, graduated and was ordained an Anglican priest, and again, a steady climb in the church hierarchy, being named its archbishop in 1986, the archbishop of Cape Town.”
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