February 11, 1990: Nelson Mandela Is Freed

February 11, 1990: Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years.

Viewing him through the prism of his life having reached extraordinary heights after his release, and then coming to a conclusion, it is easy to lose the context that landed him in prison in the first place: His homeland was a terribly unfair place.

He was born on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, in the Eastern Cape province of what was then known as the Union of South Africa, a self-governing dominion of the British Empire (and, after 1947, the British Commonwealth). As a result, the white minority, a combination of British and Dutch-ancestry "Boers" or "Afrikaners," instituted policies of racial segregation, called "apartheid," far beyond what Great Britain ever had.

Mandela claimed to have inherited a "proud rebelliousness" and a "stubborn sense of fairness" from his father. He was at university when World War II broke out, and supported the British Empire and opposed Nazi Germany. He became a lawyer, and rose through the ranks of the African National Congress, the leading advocacy organization for black South Africans. In 1958, his work with the ANC got him charged with treason. The charges were dropped, but, at the age of 40, he was already on the apartheidists' radar.

On October 5, 1960, a referendum -- with only white people voting -- to become the Republic of South Africa was narrowly approved, and the country officially left the British Commonwealth on May 31, 1961. This permitted a tightening of the apartheid laws.

In response to these whites-only actions, the ANC passed a resolution declaring "No Constitution or form of Government decided without the participation of the African people who form an absolute majority of the population can enjoy moral validity or merit support either within South Africa or beyond its borders." Mandela himself wrote:

The adoption of this part of the resolution did not mean that conference preferred a monarchy to a republican form of government. Such considerations were unimportant and irrelevant. The point at issue, and which was emphasised over and over again by delegates, was that a minority Government had decided to proclaim a White Republic under which the living conditions of the African people would continue to deteriorate.

In response to this, the government cracked down as never before. Mandela and 2 others founded uMkhonto we Sizwe, meaning "Spear of the Nation," or "MK" for short. Inspired by the success of Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba -- and, in spite of his virtues, Castro and Mandela would be lifelong friends -- the group carried out a bombing campaign in December 1961.

On August 5, 1962 -- the day Marilyn Monroe died -- Mandela was arrested, and was held prisoner in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, before his trial. (Unusually, the nation has three capitals. Cape Town is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. Johannesburg is the largest city, and the unofficial capital of South African culture, but not in any official way a capital.)

On April 20, 1964, in what became known as the Rivonia Trial, Mandela testified on his own behalf, delivering what became known as the "I Am Prepared to Die Speech." He closed:

I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. 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 will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, My Lord, if it needs to be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

On June 12, Mandela was convicted. The prosecution asked for the death penalty. Instead, the presiding judge, Justice Quartus de Wet, sentence him to life in prison. Mandela was taken to Robben Island, where he was imprisoned for the next 18 years.

By the 1970s, the Black Consciousness Movement had succeeded the ANC as the leading advocacy group, and Steven Biko became the new hope of the people. But the 1976 Soweto Uprising led to a new crackdown, and in 1977, Biko was arrested, and beaten to death in custody.

Since Mandela, however removed from the struggle, was still alive, attention turned back toward him. By 1981, in absentia, he received an honorary doctorate from a university in Lesotho, a black-led independent nation completely surrounded by South Africa (but, like Switzerland, heavily mountainous and thus hard to conquer); the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding from the government of India; the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland; and a resolution demanding his release from the United Nations Security Council.

But, by this point, the President of the United States was Ronald Reagan, and the Prime Minister of Britain was Margaret Thatcher. They both viewed Mandela as a Communist and a terrorist, so he could count on no official help from either of their countries.

And in 1982, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town. Although conditions were considerably better -- he and the white commanding officer managed to build a friendship -- the reason for the move is that he was having too great an influence on the younger prisoners at Robben Island, who would see their sentences end and then take his ideas back home.

In 1986, both houses of the Congress of the United States passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, a resolution imposing economic sanctions on South Africa. Reagan vetoed it. To override the veto required a 2/3rds vote of each house: 290 in the House of Representatives, 67 in the Senate. And Reagan's party, the Republicans, controlled the Senate with 52 members, and had 180 members in the House.

And yet, on September 29, 1986, the House voted 315-84 to override Reagan's veto. Three days later, the Senate voted 78-21 to do so. That's how shameful apartheid had come to be seen outside South Africa. (For the record: Mitch McConnell, now seen as the leading voice of white supremacy in the U.S. Senate, voted to override Reagan's veto. Chuck Grassley, also still there, voted for the Act, but against overriding the veto.)

On June 11, 1988, to celebrate his upcoming 70th birthday, a tribute concert was held at the original Wembley Stadium in London, with a full house of over 100,000 people on hand, and an estimated 200 million watching on television worldwide. Being greedy and wanting the money from the ratings, Rupert Murdoch bought the U.S. TV rights; being a right-wing maniac, he had it broadcast in America on tape delay, so he could censor the more political aspects of the show.

The show was launched by the Farafina Drummers, from the West African nation of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). Speakers and other performers included Harry Belafonte, Sting, George Michael, Richard Attenborough, Whoopi Goldberg, Eurythmics, Graham Chapman, Tracy Chapman (no relation), Al Green, Joe Cocker, Ashford & Simpson, Natalie Cole, Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, Phil Collins, Joan Armatrading, Paul Carrack, Paul Young, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Bryan Adams, The Bee Gees, Youssou N'Dour, Jackson Browne, UB40, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba (South African performers, once married to each other), Denzel Washington, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, Meat Loaf, Whitney Houston, Salt-N-Pepa, Stevie Wonder, Chubby Checker, Dire Straits with Eric Clapton sitting in (despite Clapton's previous racist remarks), and, closing the show, opera singer Jessye Norman singing "Amazing Grace."

Millions of people who had never heard Mandela's story before now knew. But one mind had to be changed in order to get him released. That was the mind of the President of South Africa. And that was P.W. Botha, and he was a committed apartheidist, and was never going to release Mandela. Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison.

But in 1989, Botha suffered a stroke, and the National Party removed him from power, installing Frederick W. de Klerk. On February 2, 1990, de Klerk announced a series of reforms, including striking down the ban on the African National Congress. This meant that its leaders could be freed from prison.

On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison, and, surrounded by a large crowd, he and Winnie held hands, and raised their other hands in fists.

Mandela visited America in June, including receiving a ticker-tape parade up Broadway in New York, and holding a rally at Yankee Stadium, wearing a Yankee cap at both, a gift from David Dinkins, the City's 1st black Mayor. In 1994, de Klerk permitted an all-races election, even though he knew it would mean his defeat. The ANC won, and on May 10, 1994, Mandela was sworn in as President of South Africa.

He served a full five-year term, and then walked away. The work of building a new nation was not finished -- and still isn't, long past his death on December 5, 2013 -- but, despite having spent more than 27 years of it in prison, Nelson Mandela became one of the giants of the 20th Century.

*

February 11, 1990 was a Sunday. This was also the day that James "Buster" Douglas knocked Mike Tyson out. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were out of season. On that day, the NBA held its All-Star Game, at the Miami Arena. The East beat the West, 130-113. Magic Johnson was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

There were 6 games played in the NHL that day: 

* The New York Rangers lost to the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.