'I don't see color, I see people'
Former anti-apartheid activist and Mandela prison mate speaks to Pasadena students
By Tiffanie Ma 10/28/2010
Defining the world in shades of black and white was Eddie Daniels' stock in trade as a young photographer in apartheid South Africa.
Each day, clients would ask him to transform their dark skin to lighter shades with the click of his camera, hoping it would help them earn better treatment in such a deeply segregated society, much less a shot at an education. There was just one problem: "I don't see color, I see people," said Daniels, who shared the story of his struggle against apartheid -- from committing acts of sabotage against the racist policy to the 15 torturous years he spent in the notorious Robben Island prison, part of that time with former South African Nelson Mandela -- with a group of middle-school students last week at Pasadena's Peace & Justice Academy.
Since last month, Daniels, soon to be 82, has been sharing his story with students across the state at various colleges and middle schools, with the importance of integrity and compassion as keystones of his speech. His talks precede the release of "Reconciliation: Mandela's Miracle," which he appears in.
Witnessing great disparity between wealth and intellectual power of blacks and whites in the poverty-stricken District 6 of Cape Town where he grew up, Daniels protested the injustice of apartheid by sabotaging government installations and for this was arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island. There, Daniels befriended Mandela, leader of the African National Congress at the time, and whom Daniels considers to be "the greatest of the greatest."
Despite his horrid living conditions, having to stand for 23 hours a day in a cramped cell and being allowed one letter every six months and one visit every six months for no more than 30 minutes, Daniels told the students "one lives in hope."
Ben Kaplan, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Highland Hall Waldorf School, said he found Daniels' story of survival inspiring. "Me, personally, I haven't even been alive for 15 years, and I feel that my life has been a long time, and to add two years onto it, in prison, in South Africa ... I couldn't imagine it."
Daniels' story also made an impact on Zoe Perez, a seventh-grader from The Peace & Justice Academy. She was astounded by the fact that "he only got one message in six months," and thought "that was really cool for him to live through all that."
He concluded his speech with a recital of the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, which Mandela shared with him, and in which they both found solace in the darkest of their days together on Robben Island. Daniels directed the last few lines to his young audience, "young ladies and gentlemen: you are the masters of your fate, the captains of your soul." He also encouraged students to apply their minds toward becoming future leaders of integrity within their classrooms, communities and country.
The documentary "Reconciliation: Mandela's Miracle" will be screened at the Museum of Tolerance Film Festival in Los Angeles from Nov. 13-18. For more information, visit museumoftolerance.com/motiff.
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