World bows in respect to Mandela (via AFP)
The death of South Africa’s liberation leader and first democratic president Nelson Mandela triggered an unprecedented worldwide chorus of awed respect. Statesmen, resistance leaders, Nobel laureates and prisoners of conscience have died before, but…
To take nothing away from Mandela………it was the death of Steve Biko on September 12, 1977 which raised the consciousness of the world about what was happening in South Africa. The miracle of Madela was that he died at home in his own bed at the age of 95. Biko was tortured and beaten to death within 24 hours of his arrest. He was 31 years old. His crime? He organized the June 16, 1976 Soweto Uprising. That uprising changed everything in South Africa. Why are some leaders allowed to live while others are killed by the state?