Today saw the passing of one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela. His wisdom in leading the end of apartheid allowed South Africa to become one of the World's major powers. Many African nations that were heavily colonized by white Europeans saw all the wealth and civilization created by the white colonists plundered and destroyed when those white regimes fell. Mandela chose a different path for his nation. That was a path of reconciliation. He lead the black South Africans to say to the white and Asiatic South Africans "We don't want to take what you have built. We want to share. We want to work with you to build a nation we can all be proud of."
Today South Africa is a nation sometimes referred to as the "rainbow nation" because of the way all of its people work together. I remember a time when one of my friends (with the knowledge to act on his plans) expressed a desire to "nuke" Johanessburg. Today only racist extremists look down on South Africa.
Africa also produced another great twentieth century world statesman, Haile Selassie, also known by some people as Ras Tafari. Tafari was his given name and Ras is the title of nobility he held before he became Emperor. He gained great respect on the world stage when he denounced the aggression of Axis Italy. A minor religion, Rastafarianism, considers Ras Tafari to be the second coming of Jesus. Some alternate interpretations of this aspect of Rastaferanism exist. Rastafarianism is also noted for their great musical tradition and use of copious amounts of marijuana as a sacrament. The religion is popular as an artistic movement. The world has gained much from the cultural impact of this movement.
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