Colin Powell in Living History, by Hillary Rodham Clinton

On Foreign Policy: Attended inauguration of South African Pres. Nelson Mandela

Fifty thousand people attended Nelson Mandela's inauguration, a spectacle of celebration, release and vindication. Everyone marveled at the orderly transfer of power in a country that had been so ravaged by racist fear and hatred. Colin Powell, a member of our delegation, was moved to tears during the flyover of jets from the South Africa Defense Force. Their contrails streaked across the sky, tinted with the red, black, green, blue, white and gold colors of the new national flag. A few years earlier, the same jets were a powerful symbol of apartheid's military power; now there were dipping their wings to honor their new black commander in chief.

Mandela's speech denounced discrimination on the basis of race and gender, two profoundly embedded prejudices in Africa and most of the rest of the world. As we were leaving the ceremony, I saw the Rev. Jesse Jackson weeping with joy. He leaned over and said to me, "Did you ever think any of us would live to see this day?"

Source: Living History, by Hillary Rodham Clinton, p. 234 Nov 1, 2003

The above quotations are from Living History, by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Colin Powell. Click here for Colin Powell on all issues.
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