Farewell Nelson Mandela

Stephen A. Crockett Jr

 

 From the Root and our content partner, New America Media:

 

How do you bury a man whose life has had a profound impact on just about every world leader, sports hero, politician, college student, professor and Hollywood star? How do you capture the impact that life has had in a ceremony? How do you memorialize a man who spent almost a third of his life locked away when his only crime was asking that his people be free and even on his release held no hate for his captors? And more importantly, where does the body go?

 

On Thursday Nelson Mandela at approximately 8:50 p.m. left this world in much better shape than he found it.

 

Even the sky is in mourning in Johannesburg as CNN reports, gray rain clouds covering and the area this morning. Children used rocks to spell out "We love you Mandela" in front of his home. Some left stuffed animals, others lit candles and wept. In Soweto township residents gathered around the house where Mandela lived before he was arrested in 1962 and sang freedom songs. Across the nation from D.C. to Los Angeles, flowers and candles were left in front of murals bearing his likeness, CNN reports.

 

During his 27-year stay for protesting against unjust laws, Mandela contracted tuberculosis while working in a prison lime quarry. Years of hard labor in prison couldn't break Mandela. A racist government couldn't break Mandela. Tuberculosis stifling his breathing couldn't break Mandela, who from his deathbed, with tubes running through his mouth into his lungs, continued to fight for a better life.

 

"On his 'deathbed' he is teaching us lessons; lessons in patience, in love, lessons of tolerance," his daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, told SABC television news earlier this year. "Every moment I get with him, I'm amazed. There are times where I have to pinch myself that I come from this man who is a fighter even though you can see he is struggling, but fighting spirit is still there with him."

 

In the end his lungs would betray him as infections became the enemy and eventually, like most things too good for this world, he passed.

 

While his lungs may have been weak, his heart was not affected since he held no hate there.

 

"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison," Mandela said after he was freed in in 1990.

 

Surrounded by his family in his Houghton, Johannesburg home Mandela drew his last breath and what's left for the rest of the world is a seismic void of humanism that will be impossible to fill. What's left for South Africa is the logistical nightmare of trying to bury a man whose spirit, legacy, impact and cultural significance far out last his physical being.

 

Amid unremarkable grief, South Africa will have to right itself, get dressed up nice and presentable to publicly mourn one of the greatest humanitarians this world has ever known.

 

According to the Guardian, the funeral will rival that of Pope John Paul II in 2005, which drew five kings, six queens and 70 presidents and prime ministers as well as 2 million faithful.

 

 

The Guardian, which has seen an internal South African document in preparation for this day, sets out a 12-day schedule from the moment of Mandela's death. Although the Guardian reports that the document was drawn up a year ago and is subject to revisions, it has Mandela's body being moved to the morgue under heavy guard.

 

There will be condolence books at, "all foreign missions, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Union Buildings, and possibly Soweto Mandela Museum" during the first few days, the Guardian reports.

 

On the sixth day, there will be a memorial in which, South African president Jacob Zuma will speak. On day eight, Mandela's body will be encased in a glass coffin and placed in the Pretoria city hall for three days.

 

There will be a rehearsal for the official state funeral on day nine. Day 10 is more prep including mass street closings also the body will be taken for its final dressing. Day 11 is a procession from the mortuary to the Union Buildings and state funeral. Day 12 is the morning procession through the streets then to the family home for burial, the Guardian reports.

 

Every living president who can attend will.

 

Oprah Winfrey is expected to attend.

 

Prince William and Kate, who were, according to the BBC, at the UK and European premiere of Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom when the news broke, will attend.

 

Not to mention the millions of others whose lives he touched.

 

This funeral, this massive event of collective remembrance and worldwide grieving will make the World Cup crowd look small.

 

South Africa must ready itself for the global attention and outpouring of love that will be shown in these next two weeks. Mandela isn’t done teaching. Even in his death the lesson is being given to South Africa and therefore to us all. That sometimes the odds are against you and sometimes it all feels overwhelming but trust in the compassion you feel and the logistics will work themselves out.

 

The Root

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