Madiba's passing Thursday is something to be mourned and celebrated, but his life was a call to action. His passing should be a call to action as well.
Lest we forget, the struggle for an end to apartheid brought many of us to the side of Madiba. But that is not true for everyone in the USA.
More often than not, the Republican party not only stood in the way, but went out of its way to obstruct the struggle for freedom that Mandela bravely fought and led.
Others have begun to document this. Follow me below the squiggle of freedom and struggle to recall.
That Time Reagan Vetoed the Anti-Apartheid Act
Apartheid's Useful Idiots
Tom Delay in 1990 - Inviting Mandela to speak diminishes the honor of addressing Congress
People Used To Write Some Startling Things About Nelson Mandela
There are surely more. They should be collected. They should be discussed.
They should be discussed now while the memory of Madiba's righteous struggle and ultimate victory is fresh in people's minds.
We should discuss and use the words and deeds of the Republican Party during the struggle against South African apartheid as a way for us to make progress in our own country towards the goals Mandela gave his life to achieve.
I leave you with this reminder from David Atkins over at Digby's place
It's a constant theme of conservatism to falsely take credit for the progressive causes of yesteryear while attempting to destroy contemporary ones. It bears repeating: in 1776, a conservative was a Tory. In 1860, a centrist advocated more compromises and a conservative was a Confederate or Confederate sympathizer. In 1880, a conservative was a friend of the robber barons. In 1930, conservatives advocated that the elderly die in the streets rather than receive Social Security. In 1955, a conservative was a McCarthyite red-baiter. In 1965, a conservative was a Beatles-hating, MLK-hating opponent of Medicare, civil rights and birth control. In 1986 conservatives were calling Mandela a terrorist while clandestinely selling arms to Iran to funding fascist Central American death squads. In 1996 conservatives were led by Newt Gingrich and impeached Bill Clinton over sex acts. In 2006 they were committing war crimes in Iraq while trying to private Social Security and subvert the justice department.
It's not any different in 2013. The issues change, but the heart and soul of conservatism remains the same.
Let us celebrate the life and work of Madiba by the politicization of his passing and fighting for people by educating them about their political enemy.