WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As celebrities threw an early 90th birthday party for Nelson Mandela in London's Hyde Park on Friday, U.S. lawmakers erased references to the former South African leader as a terrorist from national databases.
While I think the sentiment behind this was probably was good, I can't disagree with this action any stronger. It has the ring of 1984, in the since that it is a changing of the past to reflect something that wasn't. In the book the enemy becomes the friend, and all at once it is stated that is how it always was. I know this isn't that extreme.
However the statements of terrorism about Mandela in the past say as much about those who made the statements as they do Mandela. I think that history is going to lose out, if when they look back they don't see that an innocent man was tarnished by people in power in this country. In removing these records it removes the shadow from Mandela's past, but it also removes the shadow from our own.
I believe the record should reflect the truth as it was believed to have been when it was written. I believe that once it has been written it should not be changed. Time has shown that those claims were untrue, this action is not needed to defend Mandela's honor. Time has shown that America was on the wrong side of this issue for a long time, no action should ever be taken to hide that fact.
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