“Who controls the past controls the future;
Who controls the present controls the past.”*
By whose law, like gods, do we assign rights by stricture?
On what moral precept tear families apart, aghast?
Tutu saw whites shoot blacks in their own backyards,
Helped initiate the demand that Mandela be released
From prison for ‘political’ crimes. Before the award,
He’d called for economic sanctions to help. He seized
The attention of white South African government leaders.
He received hate mail and death threats, but it wasn’t over:
He spoke to the U.N and on global tours. He was known for
Witnessing man’s inhumanity to man, a Peace pleader.
By 1990, apartheid’s unravelling had ensued.
He preached that forgiveness is something you do for . . . you.**
June Edvenson 