I always chuckle with I see this photo of me and Nelson Mandela. The photo was taken as a souvenir for tourists when they get off the cable car at Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. The photo is fake but my deep admiration for Mandela is real. The passing of this great leader pushed me to visit my photo album of my 2001 South Africa visit and the memories always come rushing back–the visit to Mandela’s cell at Robbin Island, the warmth of the South African people, talking with children on the schoolyard, the political discussions in the coffee houses, the hustle of Johannesburg, the dance of the Zula warriors…I reflected on all the work I was a part of during the anti-apartheid movement and felt like a citizen in this new country. I had done my small part of bring the racist regime down but as my eyes confirmed, the dreams of the black masses remain unfulfilled. Amandla awetu! The power shall be ours!
The St. Louis governance model: Default to plantation
Former Missouri State Attorney General and now Senator Eric Schmitt was crystal clear in his analysis of the campaign to rid St. Louis of its Black female legislators. Sure, his post-election post was braggadocious in nature but do not get lost in the tone. Focus on the words which confirmed my declaration that there has been a campaign to rid St. Louis of any Black, forward-thinking elected officials, making St. Louis white again.
