Going hard for God Thi’sl transitions from street life to ‘Stellar’ rap career
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CAC Audited DECEMBER 12 – 18, 2013
Vol. 84 No. 36 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com∞ July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013
Remembering Mandela St. Louis, world mourns ‘gentle giant’ of South Africa By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Less than a month before Nelson Mandela died, Harris-Stowe State University Board Chair Thelma Cook visited the museum called the Mandela House, the home where Mandela lived in Johannesburg before he was imprisoned. She and a group from St. Louis also walked outside the walls of the home where he passed away on December 5, 2013 at 95. “We knew Mr. Mandela was terminally ill,” Cook said. “It was important for us to experience his museum with the reflections of his families, the correspondence he sent and received. The more you learn about him, the more he helps us refocus the importance of our freedom and our ability to love one Nelson Mandela, another.” July 18, 1918 – Now the walls of December 5, 2013 the Mandela House and his current home are stacked high with shrines, flowers, candles and messages. On Sunday night, the streets of his home in Houghton, an affluent district of Johannesburg, were closed off and packed with people who came to mourn his death and celebrate his life. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama spoke at his memorial, along with many world leaders. He reflected on the life of a man who was born during World War I, “far from the corridors of power.” As a boy, Mandela raised herding cattle and was tutored by the elders of his Thembu tribe, Obama said. “Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century,” Obama said. “Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement – a movement that at its start had little prospect for success. Like Dr. King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed and the moral necessity of racial justice.” See MANDELA, A6
Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post
Future South African President Nelson Mandela danced with girls from a middle school during a campaign rally on April 16, 1994 in Ladysmith, South Africa. Mandela died Thursday, December 5, 2013 at age 95.
Norman Seay is White House-bound Veteran St. Louis activist to attend Obama’s holiday party Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Photo by Wiley Price
Norman Seay, veteran civil rights activist and former director of the Office of Equal Opportunity at University of Missouri – St. Louis (left), will deliver to President Barack Obama the UMSL Chancellor’s Medallion bestowed by UMSL Chancellor Tom George (right). Betty Van Uum, senior officer for public affairs at UMSL, and Timothy M. Wolfe, president of the University of Missouri System, observe in this file photo.
Norman Seay, 81, has spent his life fighting for civil rights, but he never thought he would live long enough to see an African-American U.S. president. On Dec. 12, Seay will have the opportunity to meet President Barack Obama in person when he attends a White House holiday reception. “It is unique because he is the first black president,”
said Seay, a retired administrator at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, “and my being active in civil rights, this is indeed an honor for me to meet him in the White House.” Seay’s unexpected opportunity came after he made a touching speech for UMSL’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony in February, said Betty Van Uum, senior officer for public affairs at UMSL.
See SEAY, A7