Mandela (updated)

Take a moment to think of Nelson Mandela. But think as well of the Reagan era, and earlier. Think of the time when saying a kind word about the imprisoned South African was a sure way to be labeled a communist. Remember how often our newspaper pundits told us that if Mandela ever ran in a truly fair South African election, that country would never know democracy again: "One man, one vote -- one time." Remember how often we were assured that allowing Mandela out of prison would inevitably lead to Soviet control of his country. Remember the prophecies of a bloodbath of whites.

Give a thought, in short, to our nation's inglorious history of using anti-communism as the great excuse for racism.

Update: I'm happy to see that other writers have noticed the right's "apartheid amnesia." See here and here. The conservative movement has benefited enormously from its ability to hide its history from ignorant younger recruits. From Joan Walsh's piece:

The Heritage Foundation was a clubhouse for apartheid backers; as late as 1990, when Mandela had been freed from prison and traveled to the U.S., Heritage suggested he was a terrorist, “not a freedom fighter.”

As late as 2003, the National Review attacked Mandela for opposing the Iraq war. His “vicious anti-Americanism and support for Saddam Hussein should come as no surprise,” NR wrote, “given his longstanding dedication to communism and praise for terrorists.”

Mandela was called a "terrorist" because he did not renounce violence in the struggle against apartheid. It has always amused me to see gun-owning American rightists, dressed in cammo gear and drilling with militias, react with horror at the thought of darker-skinned Third World people fighting oppression by "any means necessary." The Gandhi thing is for them, never for us.