Goals of Nelson Mandela Essay

Nelson Mandela

One of the main ideas of Nelson Mandela was the ending of apartheid, which was a South African racial segregation that kept black residents from being able to have the same rights as white residents (Sampson, 2011). This was very similar to the slavery that was seen in the United States in the past, and Mandela wanted to see it stopped. His major idea was that people should be equal, and that the color of a person's skin should not have an effect on the rights that person had. This has, of course, been said by others in the past, and is not an idea that is unique to Mandela. However, Mandela took the idea very far in an effort to make sure apartheid ended. He was successful in making that happen. This is not the same thing as stopping racism, which can be in the hearts and minds of people no matter how they act on the outside and what kinds of laws prevent them from acting on their feelings and beliefs.It is not possible to stop racism, because that is a personal issue that has to be addressed individually, and not something that can actually be controlled by law. However, there can be laws made against deliberate equality, which is what Mandela sought to address. During his lifetime he did a lot of different things, including working as South Africa's president, but the single thing most people will remember him for will be the end of apartheid (Sampson, 2011). The beginning of apartheid was actually when the country was still under Dutch rule, and millions of non-white South Africans had to leave their homes (Ellis, 2011). Everything was segregated, and black South Africans even lost their citizenship (Ellis, 2011). That was unfortunate, and when Mandela started to gain political power he determined that he had the potential to do something about the atrocities he saw in his country (Sampson, 2011). His work toward ending apartheid began, and he worked tirelessly in order to make sure everyone in the country could be free......