[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 122 (Friday, July 19, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING NELSON MANDELA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 19, 2019

  Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a man who absolutely 
put his life and freedom on the line for a cause greater than himself: 
South African President Nelson Mandela.
  Nelson Mandela was a transformative leader who was imprisoned for 27 
years, but rose to become the first black President of South Africa. He 
used his tenure to dismantle apartheid, combat institutional racism, 
and heal his nation.
  Nelson Mandela's courageous leadership inspired my own involvement in 
the anti-apartheid movement in the United States, where I was a 
national leader of the Free South Africa Movement and TransAfrica, and 
fought for the passage of my bill, Assembly Bill 134, which forced 
California to divest $ 12 billion in state pension funds tied to South 
Africa's apartheid regime.
  Nelson Mandela will always be a personal hero and a dear friend to 
me. I cherish the opportunities that I had to visit him in South 
Africa, and host him in the United States: first, as the chair of a 
Welcome Home Celebration that filled the Los Angeles Coliseum, and 
again at a Congressional ceremony that I hosted in his honor in the 
U.S. Capitol.
  Today, on what would have been his 101st birthday, let us all 
remember the powerful lesson of courage, sacrifice, and service that is 
the legacy of our beloved ``Mandiba.''