As MMM honors Nelson Mandela on his 92 years of living and serving the greater good of humanity,  we salute, celebrate and encourage every individual and  organization of human kind to organize SERVICE PROJECTS in your local and global community.

The World Celebrates Neslon Mandela Too

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10679308

http://www.examiner.com/x-21681-Celebrity-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m7d18-Mandela-Day-2010-is-celebrated-around-the-world–Celebrate-Nelson-Mandelas-Birthday-PHOTOS

THIS Article Is Brought To You By The Washington Post

World Cup 2010: United States has historic opportunity vs. England

Washington Post Staff Writer

RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Since the World Cup draw was staged in December and the United States was placed alongside England, forging one of the tournament’s tastiest matchups, every story line has been exhausted.

It’s the inventors of modern soccer facing the historically backwater upstart. It’s the teams’ first World Cup meeting since the Americans shocked England 60 years ago in Brazil. It’s a collection of U.S. players facing the country that employs many of them in its celebrated professional league, which has a strong following in America.

Six months in the making, the U.S. national team has come to this remote outpost at the base of the Magaliesberg mountains in northern South Africa to play arguably the most anticipated match in its history.

“It’s an unprecedented moment,” U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said. “It’s one of those opportunities you don’t get very often. It’s a dream game.”

There have been more important U.S. games in recent years — against Brazil in the round of 16 in 1994 and Germany in the 2002 quarterfinal, and perhaps the Confederations Cup encounters with Spain and Brazil last year.

But the long wait between the draw in Cape Town and Saturday’s kickoff at Royal Bafokeng Stadium, combined with the deep cultural and political ties between the nations, has stoked the emotions and contributed to heightened awareness in the otherwise soccer-indifferent United States.

“For the last six months, all we have seen is U.S.-England,” midfielder Landon Donovan said. “So if you were a casual sports fan at home, you might think that this was the World Cup final: U.S. versus England.”

Far from it. But beating England would reverberate around the sporting world and help win over casual U.S. observers watching a rare network telecast of soccer.

U.S. players have proved their worth in the famed English Premier League for years, but “if we now can do it on the national team level against them on a big stage, it only takes the ball a little bit further,” Coach Bob Bradley said.

Added Donovan, the U.S. team’s career scoring leader: “Every time we have an opportunity to play, we have an opportunity to grow the sport, and we clearly understand that every four years, that is magnified and multiplied by a lot.”

CONTINUED: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061106036.html?hpid=topnews

Every historic Event must have a theme song!

Per ANI report…

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has chosen a tune written by two British songwriters as World Cup anthem.

Rock legend Russ Ballard, lead singer and guitarist of Argent, and solo artist Chris Winter are the names behind the song Hope which will open the World Cup competition on June 11, the Daily Express reports.

Opera star Siphiwo Ntshebe, 34, who grew up in a shack in Port Elizabeth, will perform the song, which incorporates classical strings, a full choir and African drums.

Mandela, 91, has pre-recorded a spoken segment but it is hoped he will be able to perform live.

“Three billion viewers is a pretty good advert for any musician,” a delighted Ballard, 64, told the Daily Express.

“I think I will shed a tear if Mr. Mandela is strong enough to make it in person. It’s a great honor and his spoken contribution to the song is very impressive and uplifting,” he added.

Hope is released as a single on June 6 and is the title track of Siphiwo’s debut album, also titled Hope, to be released by Epic Records on June 14.

Source:
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_nelson-mandela-chooses-british-tune-for-world-cup-song_1387726

Upon enter the chanting weeks of the World Cup kick off in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu reaches out to remind its people of the county’s greatness and legacy…What’s to come of South Africa?

Desmond Tutu: ‘South Africa has lost its pride’

By David Smith in Johannesburg

Archbishop’s condemnation of country’s rampant crime and corruption comes little more than a month before the World Cup

has delivered a withering verdict on the state of South Africa as the country prepares to host the continent’s first football World Cup.

The archbishop emeritus, often described as South Africa’s moral conscience, condemned rampant crime and corruption and said the legacy of racial apartheid was still being felt.

Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president, now a frail 91 and deep in retirement, would be deeply saddened if he was aware of recent events, he added.

“Something happened to us,” Tutu, 78, told South Africa’s Die Burger newspaper. “It looks like we have lost our pride. And it is not because of poverty.

“I don’t want to make apartheid the scapegoat, but it might be that we are unaware of the damage that was caused. To all of us South Africans. “The damage to people who implemented such an inhuman policy, as well as the damage done to the victims.”

The Nobel peace laureate, a leading voice in the liberation struggle, remains a giant in South African public life and one of the most respected and trenchant critics of the African National Congress (ANC) government.

His attack comes as a blow little more than a month before South Africa invites global attention as proud host of the World Cup.

The government has staked immense political and financial capital in the tournament, with President Jacob Zuma declaring: “This is the single greatest opportunity we have ever had to showcase our diversity and potential to the world.”

But the ANC has long been dogged by criticism from opposition politicians and the press for greed, corruption and cronyism.

Tutu said: “During the struggle, people were very idealistic; they were ready to make sacrifices. But now the things against which we thought we were fighting have become irresistible to some people.

“There is nothing wrong with becoming rich, except when it is a certain group of people, an elite, who is controlling it.”

Violent crime is another post-apartheid scourge that sceptics warn could threaten the safety of fans at the World Cup, which kicks off on 11 June.

“Many of us feel more unsafe than before,” said Tutu, chairman of The Elders group of world leaders. “We are prisoners in our homes. Look at what is happening to farmers.

“But it is not only the farmers. You read something horrific almost every day. We should ask ourselves: ‘Hey, what is going on?’”

Last week marked 16 years since Mandela’s victory in South Africa’s first democratic election. But the spatial segregation of apartheid is still acute, with millions of black people living in impoverished townships outside big cities.

Tutu, who coined the phrase “rainbow nation”, suggested that multiracial harmony remained elusive. “We have to ask ourselves whether we are completely healed,” he continued.

“Every white person benefited from apartheid. And sometimes it is expected that Afrikaners should carry most of the blame while every white person profited from apartheid.

“I think we as South Africans should sit down together and ask: ‘Are we completely healed or are all of us deeply injured?’ We may not be aware of it.”

Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in an attempt to deal with the consequences of white minority rule for both perpetrators and victims.

But he admitted there were failures: “We didn’t manage to involve white people enough in the process. And we didn’t get the big fish.”

The fragility of race relations was exposed recently when the ANC’s youth league president, Julius Malema, sang a liberation-era protest song containing the words “shoot the Boer”, in defiance of a court order.

Some groups blamed him for inciting racial hatred that led to the murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche.

Malema is currently facing an ANC displinary hearing over the song, his vocal support of the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, and his verbal abuse of a BBC journalist at a press conference.

“There must be many ANC members who feel very sad,” said Tutu, indicating that Mandela may not have heard about the saga. “I am in a way grateful that Madiba [Mandela's clan name] is not always as aware of what is going on, because I think it would sadden him deeply.”

South Africa News Notes:

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

MyMandelaMoment Feature Dedication To Dr. Dorothy Height & Benjamin Hooks

Guardian Angel, Dr. Dorothy Height

Keep The Fire Dr. Hooks

By GRITtv
Bill Fletcher Remembering Dr. Height & Hooks
Source: www.voxunion.com

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Dorothy I. Height: Icon and friend
by Julianne Malveaux

When Dr. Dorothy Irene Height sought a publisher for her memoirs, there was no bidding war. I’d have thought that every publishing house would have vied to publish the life of my friend, mentor and civil rights icon, but she wryly noted that she’d sold neither drugs nor her body, and that her life didn’t conform to any stereotype.

What a life it was! It spanned more than 70 years of activism, personal meetings with every president from FDR through Barack Obama, leadership positions in several women’s organizations, including the National Council of Negro Women and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and international travel that incorporated advocacy for women and girls around the world. She has protested everything from lynching to joblessness, and her protests have always had a quiet dignity about them.

Indeed, when the journalist Bill Moyers aired a television special on the “vanishing” Black family, her inspiration was to organize an antidote, an annual “Black Family Reunion” held in Washington, D.C. and other cities to show the nation and the world that the black family is hardly dying.

Dr. Height’s autobiography, “Open Wide the Freedom Gates” (Public Affairs Books, 2005) is a gentle set of reminisces of a life well lived, showcasing both Height’s activism and her wit. She tells of someone describing an elder as “clothed and in their right mind” and wondering why such a comment would be made.
Then, she adds that as she aged, she realized what a blessing it was to be clothed and in your right mind. Always stylish, and unfailingly sporting a suit and matching hat, she dressed and went to her office every morning until she was hospitalized in mid-March. While most 98 year olds would be enjoying retirement, Dr. Height was up to her earlobes in activism. She was only prevented from a February meeting with President Obama and other civil rights leaders by thigh-high snowdrifts that would be difficult for her to navigate.
When she could not get out, she could work that phone! An early morning phone-call from her would not be prefaced with “good morning”, but more frequently with a gentle, but insistent request that some task be performed.

Once you agreed to the task, the call would most likely be ended, sometimes without a goodbye. When Dr. Height was focused, she was focused. She also knew how to have fun, how to enjoy people, and how to tease them. When I attempted a Christmas carol parody for an annual gathering of friends, she remarked that “economists really should not write poetry”, which prompted laughter and a little chagrin. On another occasion, she urged me to attend an after party after a long (went into the next day) dinner. When I told her that I was tired, she said, “Well, I’m going”. Since I couldn’t let a 90 something woman have more stamina than me, I tagged along.

She loved being around young people and got a kick out of talking to them. One might think that someone who had conversed with Presidents wouldn’t have much to say to little girls, but Antonae Horton and Tierra Holloway from the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center could tell you differently. Indeed, Dr. Height loved people regardless of their age. She often said you could learn something from anyone.

She was a great friend to have because she always showed up. Even though travel was difficult for her (she couldn’t fly on small planes), she made the five-hour drive from Washington and brought her team so that she could attend my installation as President of Bennett College for Women in March 2008. She didn’t just come for the installation, but for a fundraising luncheon and for the gala that followed! If a friend needed her, she was there.

Much will be written about Dr. Dorothy Irene Height and her tremendous contribution to the policy arena. There are stories I can tell about editing Voices of Vision, the compendium that was produced in 1996 to coincide with the opening of the NCNW Building, or about representing her in Ghana for a meeting of African businesswomen. There are stories others can tell about her work with the Million Man March and her empowerment of so many women whose roll call of names would resemble a “who’s who” of black women. Those stories deserve telling, but I now smile most at the personal stories, personal interactions, her wit and her humor.

Dr. Height’s death last week is a reminder of how far African American women have come since she began her work in civil rights leadership, and how much more work must be done to attain social, economic, and gender justice. She was engaged in this work to the very end of her life, to the end concerned about high unemployment rates and the special burden African American women face in this economic climate. Her activism, dignity, gentility, passion and compassion are a rare combination, and an example for those who follow in her footsteps. I will miss her as a civil rights leader, and also as a wise and witty friend.

Julianne Malveaux is president of Bennett College for Women.

Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender.
article-7692-dorothy-i-height-ico.html

Source: www.Voxunion.com

Chris Hani and the People’s South African Liberation Struggle
April 12, 2010 by freemixradio

Liberation Struggle

Drs. Frank Wilderson and Todd Burroughs joined us this week to commemorate Chris Hani. Hani, South Africa’s most popular leader, was assassinated April 10, 1993. Centering Hani imposes the very questions most fear regarding the direction of South Africa since his death and the current state of what is an international human rights struggle. Similarly, any omission of Hani from discussions of recent South African history renders those exchanges meaningless.

* And hear our first interview with Frank Wilderson,
CLICK HERE!  Interview with Frank Wilderson

Special Thanks to Voxunion.com for sharing their insights on South Africa in todays world.

When I fight about what is going on in the neighborhood,
or when I fight about what is happening to other people’s children,
I’m doing that because
I want to leave a community and a world that is better than the one I found.
~Marian Wright-Edelman

My Mandela Moment sends heart-felt Greetings to All The Women on the planet! Women of all ages and ethnicities celebrate the plight, struggle and victories of Women and Women Issues on this day and throughout the Month of March. Women’s History Month honors women from all walks of life.

Brief History: (Source: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womensintro1.html)
Women’s History Month

The public celebration of women’s history in this country began in 1978 as “Women’s History Week” in Sonoma County, California. The week including March 8, International Women’s Day, was selected. In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) co-sponsored a joint Congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women’s History Week. In 1987, Congress expanded the celebration to a month, and March was declared Women’s History Month.

We Thank Each and Every Woman who has taken time to love, give, teach, listen, pray, affirm, take action, settle disputes, make peace and transform herself, family and community into a ‘just’ environment.

This is dedicated to YOU:

Woman by Raheem DeVaughn

“Real women don’t have flushes, they have power surges.”
~Sandra Cabot,  Australian Physician & Author

Today marks the 20th Anniversary of Nelson Mandela being released from prison after serving 27 years as a political prisoner. Still, in 2010 we are reminded during times of senseless War that the cost of Peace in the world is a priceless treasure to achieve and righteously fought for.

In honor of our dear Brother,Nelson Mandela and a remarkable conscientious objector to gain wisdom in such transitory times we’d like to share his words as he addressed a crowd of loyal supporters in South Africa on Feb. 11, 1990

NELSON MANDELA’S ADDRESS TO RALLY IN CAPE TOWN ON HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON

11 February 1990

Friends, comrades and fellow South Africans.

I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.

I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.

On this day of my release, I extend my sincere and warmest gratitude to the millions of my compatriots and those in every corner of the globe who have campaigned tirelessly for my release.

I send special greetings to the people of Cape Town, this city which has been my home for three decades. Your mass marches and other forms of struggle have served as a constant source of strength to all political prisoners.

I salute the African National Congress. It has fulfilled our every expectation in its role as leader of the great march to freedom.

I salute our President, Comrade Oliver Tambo, for leading the ANC even under the most difficult circumstances.

I salute the rank and file members of the ANC. You have sacrificed life and limb in the pursuit of the noble cause of our struggle.

I salute combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe, like Solomon Mahlangu and Ashley Kriel who have paid the ultimate price for the freedom of all South Africans.

I salute the South African Communist Party for its sterling contribution to the struggle for democracy. You have survived 40 years of unrelenting persecution. The memory of great communists like Moses Kotane, Yusuf Dadoo, Bram Fischer and Moses Mabhida will be cherished for generations to come.

I salute General Secretary Joe Slovo, one of our finest patriots. We are heartened by the fact that the alliance between ourselves and the Party remains as strong as it always was.

I salute the United Democratic Front, the National Education Crisis Committee, the South African Youth Congress, the Transvaal and Natal Indian Congresses and COSATU and the many other formations of the Mass Democratic Movement.

I also salute the Black Sash and the National Union of South African Students. We note with pride that you have acted as the conscience of white South Africa. Even during the darkest days in the history of our struggle you held the flag of liberty high. The large-scale mass mobilisation of the past few years is one of the key factors which led to the opening of the final chapter of our struggle.

I extend my greetings to the working class of our country. Your organised strength is the pride of our movement. You remain the most dependable force in the struggle to end exploitation and oppression.

I pay tribute to the many religious communities who carried the campaign for justice forward when the organisations for our people were silenced.

I greet the traditional leaders of our country – many of you continue to walk in the footsteps of great heroes like Hintsa and Sekhukune.

I pay tribute to the endless heroism of youth, you, the young lions. You, the young lions, have energised our entire struggle.

I pay tribute to the mothers and wives and sisters of our nation. You are the rock-hard foundation of our struggle. Apartheid has inflicted more pain on you than on anyone else.

On this occasion, we thank the world community for their great contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. Without your support our struggle would not have reached this advanced stage. The sacrifice of the frontline states will be remembered by South Africans forever.

My salutations would be incomplete without expressing my deep appreciation for the strength given to me during my long and lonely years in prison by my beloved wife and family. I am convinced that your pain and suffering was far greater than my own.

Before I go any further I wish to make the point that I intend making only a few preliminary comments at this stage. I will make a more complete statement only after I have had the opportunity to consult with my comrades.

Today the majority of South Africans, black and white, recognise that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organisation and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy. The destruction caused by apartheid on our sub-continent is in- calculable. The fabric of family life of millions of my people has been shattered. Millions are homeless and unemployed. Our economy lies in ruins and our people are embroiled in political strife. Our resort to the armed struggle in 1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe, was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue. We express the hope that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement will be created soon so that there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle.

I am a loyal and disciplined member of the African National Congress. I am therefore in full agreement with all of its objectives, strategies and tactics.

The need to unite the people of our country is as important a task now as it always has been. No individual leader is able to take on this enormous task on his own. It is our task as leaders to place our views before our organisation and to allow the democratic structures to decide. On the question of democratic practice, I feel duty bound to make the point that a leader of the movement is a person who has been democratically elected at a national conference. This is a principle which must be upheld without any exceptions.

Today, I wish to report to you that my talks with the government have been aimed at normalising the political situation in the country. We have not as yet begun discussing the basic demands of the struggle. I wish to stress that I myself have at no time entered into negotiations about the future of our country except to insist on a meeting between the ANC and the government.

Mr. De Klerk has gone further than any other Nationalist president in taking real steps to normalise the situation. However, there are further steps as outlined in the Harare Declaration that have to be met before negotiations on the basic demands of our people can begin. I reiterate our call for, inter alia, the immediate ending of the State of Emergency and the freeing of all, and not only some, political prisoners. Only such a normalised situation, which allows for free political activity, can allow us to consult our people in order to obtain a mandate.

The people need to be consulted on who will negotiate and on the content of such negotiations. Negotiations cannot take place above the heads or behind the backs of our people. It is our belief that the future of our country can only be determined by a body which is democratically elected on a non-racial basis. Negotiations on the dismantling of apartheid will have to address the over- whelming demand of our people for a democratic, non-racial and unitary South Africa. There must be an end to white monopoly on political power and a fundamental restructuring of our political and economic systems to ensure that the inequalities of apartheid are addressed and our society thoroughly democratised.

It must be added that Mr. De Klerk himself is a man of integrity who is acutely aware of the dangers of a public figure not honouring his undertakings. But as an organisation we base our policy and strategy on the harsh reality we are faced with. And this reality is that we are still suffering under the policy of the Nationalist government.

Our struggle has reached a decisive moment. We call on our people to seize this moment so that the process towards democracy is rapid and uninterrupted. We have waited too long for our freedom. We can no longer wait. Now is the time to intensify the struggle on all fronts. To relax our efforts now would be a mistake which generations to come will not be able to forgive. The sight of freedom looming on the horizon should encourage us to redouble our efforts.

It is only through disciplined mass action that our victory can be assured. We call on our white compatriots to join us in the shaping of a new South Africa. The freedom movement is a political home for you too. We call on the international community to continue the campaign to isolate the apartheid regime. To lift sanctions now would be to run the risk of aborting the process towards the complete eradication of apartheid.

Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way. Universal suffrage on a common voters’ role in a united democratic and non-racial South Africa is the only way to peace and racial harmony.

In conclusion I wish to quote my own words during my trial in 1964. They are true today as they were then:

‘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.’

Nelson Mandela\’s Freedom Speech: Feb. 11, 1990

Remembering A Living Legend:

Photo From: Academy of Achievement (© Peter Turnley/CORBIS)

Nelson Mandela's Jail Cell

Black People of the entire diaspora have contributed fearlessly to the shaping of the planet as we know and see it. My Mandela Moment celebrates those who paved the way for black people and all of humanity. Supporting the continuation of unconditional love, freedom, equality, expression, inspiration and the Spirit of resiliency.

Reflect and Celebrate BLACK HISTORY!

On February 1st - We owe the celebration of Black History Month to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty. He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. The scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population. Dr. Woodson decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation’s history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as “Negro History Week” and later as “Black History Month.”
Courtesy of: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmintro1.html

February 2nd

1990: State President F.W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid organizations, and announced that Mandela would shortly be released from prison.

1948: Truman sends Congress Anti-Lynching Message
President Truman sent Congress a special message urging adoption of a civil rights program, including a fair employment practices commission and anti-lynching and anti-poll tax measures.

February 3rd

1870: The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote in the United States

February 4th

1913: Ms. Rosa Parks was born on this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

February 5th (Courtesy of Black Facts Online)

1990: Columbia University graduate and Harvard University law student Barack Obama became the first African American named president of the Harvard Law Review.

1958: Clifton R. Wharton Sr. confirmed as minister to Rumania. Career diplomat was the first Black to head a U.S. embassy in Europe.

February 6th

1945: Happy Birthday to Reggae legend, Bob Marley

February 7th

1974: Grenada achieves independence from Great Britain

2010: Dr. George Grant. Each time a golfer gets ready for a drive off the tee, he should say thanks to a little-known inventor, Dr. George Grant. He was one of the first African-American dentists and also one of the first of his race to play golf. Grant was tired of the method of teeing up in the 1890’s. So, using his dental skills, he fashioned the first golf tee, for which he received a patent. Grant’s tee was a small wooden peg with a concave piece of rubber on top.

Today, every one of the nation’s more than 24 million golfers use tees every time they play. This special edition of Profile America is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau, conducting the 2010 Census beginning April 1st.

Courtesy Of: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/us-census-bureau-black-history-month-feature-for-feb-7,1153790.shtml#ixzz0fCFlNJPg