releases: https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-barbara-lee-celebrates-nelson-mandelas-90th-birthday
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-barbara-lee-celebrates-nelson-mandelas-90th-birthday | Congresswoman Barbara Lee Celebrates Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday | 2008-07-18 | 2008 | 2008-07 | Democrat | House | CA | Barbara Lee | L000551 | lee.house.gov | legacy | 07.18.08 Congresswoman Barbara Lee Celebrates Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday For Immediate Release Contact: Sean P. Nichols July 18, 2008 (202) 225-2661 Statement on President Mandela's 90th Birthday Washington, D.C. - At a press conference today with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) marking the 90th birthday offormer South African President Nelson Mandela, the Congresswoman issued the following statement:It is with such great joy that we are here today to raise our voices in celebration of a person whose life demonstrates the indomitable nature of the human spirit. For 27 years, Nelson Mandela's struggle personified the fight against apartheid. With a very dignified defiance, he never compromised his political principles or the mission of the anti-apartheid movement. In the 1970s and in the 1980s, I proudly served as a foot soldier in that movement. Through demonstrations, boycotts, divestment campaigns and being arrested, we all expressed our outrage at the cruelty of apartheid, even while continuing to fight injustices at home in the United States. It was really a very proud day for me and all of us when the Congress passed legislation in 1986 sponsored by my predecessor, a great statesman, a former Congressman, now Mayor Ron Dellums, overriding President Reagan's veto imposing sanctions against South Africa, putting our country on the right side of history. Those sanctions really did help signal the death knell of apartheid. And under the leadership of our own Congresswoman Maxine Waters, I was very proud of the fact that she introduced sanctions in our State of California and made our State the first State to divest. And they both very recently were awarded with one of South Africa's highest honors. Not all freedom fighters live to see their struggle bring about the changes they imagined. Nelson Mandela did. He emerged from the infamous Robben Island Prison to unite and to lead a nation transformed from racial tyranny to a thriving multiracial democracy. South Africa now guarantees equal rights for all. President Mandela retired from political life in 1999. But he continues to lend his voice and moral authority to causes that affect the world such as the global AIDS pandemic, poverty and human rights. Nelson Mandela is a genuine hero to the world. So I was shocked last Next Article | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |