[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 17, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
       A TRIBUTE TO NELSON MANDELA AND THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA

                                 ______


                          HON. KAREN SHEPHERD

                                of utah

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 17, 1994

  Ms. SHEPHERD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of the people 
of South Africa and their new President, Nelson Mandela. Through 
tireless work and principled advocacy, Nelson Mandela has led his 
nation back into the community of nations. His dignity, his high moral 
vision, and his strength of conviction have earned him not just the 
presidency but also the Nobel Peace Prize and admiration of people 
around the world.
  On June 6, 1966, then-Senator Robert Kennedy spoke at the University 
of Cape Town in South Africa. In an impassioned anti-apartheid speech, 
Kennedy said,
       Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve 
     the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends 
     forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a 
     million different centers of energy and daring those ripples 
     build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of 
     oppression and resistance.

  Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Steven Biko, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 
and millions of other men and women, sending forth their own tiny 
ripples of hope through millions of acts of courage over decades and 
centuries of struggle, have torn down the walls of oppression in South 
Africa. Theirs is a story of freedom that would not be denied.
  Mr. Speaker, I join all of my colleagues in saluting the brave people 
of South Africa, especially their indomitable new President Nelson 
Mandela. We salute you and send you our most heartfelt congratulations 
on the beginning of a new era of freedom and dignity for all of the 
people of South Africa.

                          ____________________