Mandela at 90

He likes breakfast of plain porridge, with fresh fruit and fresh milk.

And he likes to end the day watching the sun set with the music of Handel or Tchaikovsky playing.

And yes, he's also an international icon.

As black Americans express their pride in Barack Obama, the world today pauses to remember someone twice his age whose life has helped to change the planet.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born July 18, 1918 in Transkei, South Africa. Long before my parents were even born, Mandela was making his mark on the world. He was educated at University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand and qualified in law in 1942. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and fought against the ruling party's apartheid policies after 1948. Acquitted of treason in 1961, he later sought to establish a military wing within the ANC.

Mandela was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor. Two years later he was accused of plotting to overthrow the government. During his second trial, Mandela spoke out in open court against injustice:

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

That was a powerful statement. Here was this talented young man, unfairly labeled as a racially divisive figure, who was willing to die for the cause of justice. Not justice for black people, but justice, for all people. His prophetic words notwithstanding, Mandela was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. 

From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison, off Cape Town. Afterwards, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, nearby on the mainland. That's when I first learned about Nelson Mandela and apartheid.

As a young college student at Dartmouth, I was involved in the movement to encourage my college to divest its portfolio from businesses that operate in the racist regime of South Africa. Other students even erected a shanty town on the campus green to replicate the living conditions for blacks in Soweto.

Then as now, South Africa was a black majority country. But unlike today, blacks had no real rights and no freedom. Their movement was severely restricted, and they even had to carry special passbooks to travel from one part of the country to another. It made no sense to me that a small minority of people could oppress a larger majority, but the racist government of South Africa had many quiet supporters, including our own government in the United States.

Back in college, I remember hearing a song by a group called The Special A.K.A. It was called "Free Nelson Mandela," and it was released to protest Mandela's imprisonment. I heard it at a fraternity party. Yes, at a fraternity party, and the song inspired legions of young people who knew nothing about politics half way across the world to pay attention to South Africa and Nelson Mandela.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison before being released under pressure from a crumbling South African regime. The Soviet Union had collapsed, Eastern Europe was imploding, and China was resisting a student uprising in Tiananmen Square. The world was changing rapidly and South Africa had to fall too.

Like millions of others around the world, I was glued to the television set the day when Nelson Mandela walked out of the prison. It was February 11, 1990, and I was back in school, this time as a law student at Harvard. Ironically, Mandela was released from prison just a few days after my classmate, Barack Obama, had just been elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. It seemed change was happening all around me, but Obama was much closer than Mandela.

After his release from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela became the president of the African National Congress and later the President of South Africa itself. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and made his first official state visit to the United States in 1994. 

I never dreamed that I might one day meet Nelson Mandela, but in October 1994 I found myself working in the White House for President Bill Clinton when Nelson Mandela, then the President of South Africa, came to visit. He spoke on the South Lawn of the White House at a beautiful arrival ceremony, and I invited several close friends and colleagues to the White House that day to witness it.

Later in his trip, I was walking through the reception area of the West Wing of the White House when in walked Mandela himself. We had been cautioned not to harass him, but a group of eager White House staff members nevertheless stood around and begged to take photos with him. The gracious senior statesman obligingly accepted.

I kicked myself for not bringing a camera with me that day. Next time I would not follow the rules, I decided. This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. But I could feel a peaceful power about the man just being in his presence. His spirit calmed me and I knew I was in the presence of greatness.

Before he got into his limousine, I extended my arm and shook his hand. He greeted me warmly with a smile that I will never forget.

I've never seen or met Nelson Mandela since that day in 1994, but today as he turns 90 I remember the impact he made on my life, and more importantly, on the lives of millions of people across the planet.