William J. Malecela
R I P
- Apr 27, 2006
- 26,588
- 10,375
By Mohamed Matope
As we mourn Nelson Mandela and honor his extraordinary life and triumphs of his remarkable leadership, its important to remember that, Mandela like any other revolutionary fighters and prominent international persona; he was a polarizing and divisive figure.
American conservatives disdained Mandela, on 80s during Conservative administration of President Reagan, US declared hostile policy towards African National Congress (ANC).He placed the African National Congress on Americas official list of terrorist organizations, Dick Cheney and John McCain (along with 144 other Republicans) opposed a resolution urging Mandelas release from jail and conservatives has consistently referred the ANC as a group of Marxist terrorists.
The conservative movement was so invested in opposition to Mandela that decades later it has become a problem for the latest conservative generation, which represents a constituency that still hates Mandela as a dangerous ideologue.
In the eyes of many conservatives, Nelson Mandela was a terroristindeed some are still saying so todayso they might be understandably tongue-tied when he ascended to the pantheon of great men
For far too long, conservatives have been comfortable playing to the worst instincts of their base, especially those steeped in racial antagonism and uncomfortable with the changes wrought by the civil rights movement. It will take years of hard work in the conservative vineyards to rip away all the suspicions that they are not friendly to black and brown citizens.
Since Barry Goldwater ran a 1964 presidential campaign on a platform of states' rights, the Republican Party has honed a strategy of appealing to disaffected whites -- stoking their resentments, fueling their fears, marshaling their paranoia. Every republican presidential candidate since Goldwater has used that strategy because it reliably delivers certain voters to the polls.
In more recent times, conservative leaders have struggled to try to find a way to broaden the party's appeal to a more diverse constituency while also continuing to win the hearts and minds of disaffected whites. But it's a fence that cannot be straddled. Too many Republican voters refuse to acknowledge the toll of their country's racist past. And too many fear a future wherein whites will no longer constitute a majority.
Conservatives probably hoped that enough time had passed for world and America to forget that conservatives stood on the wrong side of history when it mattered, on apartheid. But memory can never be erased, people will not forget the fact that conservatives called Mandela a terrorist long before they called him a hero.
As we mourn Nelson Mandela and honor his extraordinary life and triumphs of his remarkable leadership, its important to remember that, Mandela like any other revolutionary fighters and prominent international persona; he was a polarizing and divisive figure.
American conservatives disdained Mandela, on 80s during Conservative administration of President Reagan, US declared hostile policy towards African National Congress (ANC).He placed the African National Congress on Americas official list of terrorist organizations, Dick Cheney and John McCain (along with 144 other Republicans) opposed a resolution urging Mandelas release from jail and conservatives has consistently referred the ANC as a group of Marxist terrorists.
The conservative movement was so invested in opposition to Mandela that decades later it has become a problem for the latest conservative generation, which represents a constituency that still hates Mandela as a dangerous ideologue.
In the eyes of many conservatives, Nelson Mandela was a terroristindeed some are still saying so todayso they might be understandably tongue-tied when he ascended to the pantheon of great men
For far too long, conservatives have been comfortable playing to the worst instincts of their base, especially those steeped in racial antagonism and uncomfortable with the changes wrought by the civil rights movement. It will take years of hard work in the conservative vineyards to rip away all the suspicions that they are not friendly to black and brown citizens.
Since Barry Goldwater ran a 1964 presidential campaign on a platform of states' rights, the Republican Party has honed a strategy of appealing to disaffected whites -- stoking their resentments, fueling their fears, marshaling their paranoia. Every republican presidential candidate since Goldwater has used that strategy because it reliably delivers certain voters to the polls.
In more recent times, conservative leaders have struggled to try to find a way to broaden the party's appeal to a more diverse constituency while also continuing to win the hearts and minds of disaffected whites. But it's a fence that cannot be straddled. Too many Republican voters refuse to acknowledge the toll of their country's racist past. And too many fear a future wherein whites will no longer constitute a majority.
Conservatives probably hoped that enough time had passed for world and America to forget that conservatives stood on the wrong side of history when it mattered, on apartheid. But memory can never be erased, people will not forget the fact that conservatives called Mandela a terrorist long before they called him a hero.
