Desmond Tutu and the Man of Tomorrow

A friend sent me an article written by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu about the night of November 4, 2008 when Barack Obama became president elect of the United States. Following are some excerpts from Tutu’s article, which was published in the Washington Post November 9, 2008.

I am rubbing my eyes in disbelief and wonder. It can't be true that Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan, is the next president of the United States.

But it is true, exhilaratingly true. An unbelievable turnaround. I want to jump and dance and shout, as I did after voting for the first time in my native South Africa on April 27, 1994.

We owe our glorious victory over the awfulness of apartheid in South Africa in large part to the support we received from the international community, including the United States, and we will always be deeply grateful. But for those of us who have looked to America for inspiration as we struggled for democracy and human rights, these past seven years have been lean ones. . . .

Against all this, the election of Barack Obama has turned America's image on its head. . . Today Africans walk taller than they did a week ago -- just as they did when Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994. . . .

Obama is the son of a Kenyan man and a Kansan woman. He spoke movingly about his background during his long campaign. Now he's the president-elect. His triumph can help the world reach the point where we realize that we are all caught up in a delicate network of interdependence, unable to celebrate fully our own heritage and place in the world, unable to realize our full potential as human beings, unless everyone else, everywhere else, can do the same.

I urge you to read the entire article, which you can access at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/11/09/ST2008110900999.html.

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