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 About Muhammad Ali "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee..." During the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, the world looked on as a determined Muhammad Ali accepted the Olympic torch and, with hands shaking from the effects of Parkinson's Disease, lit the flame that would burn throughout the sixteen-day event. It was just one of the many times the legendary boxer and humanitarian has lit up the world.
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HERO'S HERO:
NELSON MANDELA
by Muhammad Ali
 Nelson Mandela is my hero. His story has come to symbolize the struggle against the apartheid machine in South Africa. Apartheid, the terrible, and often violent, institutionalized racism that for so long held South African society in its grip, was not an easy policy to fight against--especially since he was oppressed within the system. Mandela understands what it means to fight against enormous odds; he went to prison for nearly three decades for his work, because he knew there was no alternative. He believes that every human being is of equal value. Mandela is my hero because he survived many years of life as a subject of colonialism. As a child in Africa, Mandela was a victim of the European colonial project in that involved "civilizing" indigenous folks by silencing African lifeways in favor of so-called Eurocentric high culture. Perhaps finding his Xhosa name, Rolihlahla, too cumbersome or primitive, a teacher assigned him the decidedly more English "Nelson" when he was a student at a British colonial boarding school.
Mandela is my hero because he embraces all people like brothers and sisters. He is one of the greatest civil rights leaders in world history. Mandela is my hero because his spirit cannot be crushed. Imprisoned for his political views in the early 1960s, Mandela refused to compromise his position, which was equality and justice for all people. He sacrificed his own freedom for the self-determination of all South Africans. He is courageous and uncompromising.
Mandela is my hero because he triumphed over injustice, and not in a small way. Almost unimaginable just a few years before, Nelson Mandela became the first democratically-elected president of South Africa in 1994 and served in that position for five years. More than anyone in the world, Mandela embodies the hopes and dreams of a true, lasting justice and equality, not just for South Africans but for all people. It is Mandela—through his unselfish and constant presence on the international stage raising awareness about AIDS, peace, debt relief, the environment--who most inspires us to think responsibly of our fellow man and of our planet. Nelson Mandela has always inspired me to think beyond myself, to think of people in the wider world as part of a common humanity. I am blessed by his friendship. I love him for what he has accomplished, for what he has been through, for his journey forward. He remains a hallmark of what it really means to give of oneself selflessly--which is, indeed, a gift for us all.
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Written by
Muhammad Ali
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• My Hero Featured Story: Abdullahi, from Freetown, Sierra Leone, writes about his hero, Nelson Mandela. |
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| Anne Frank & Miep Gies are heroes to Freedom Writers founder and teacher, Erin Gruwell. | Captain Nemo inspired hero, Dr. Robert Ballard to explore the sea. | Clarence Darrow is Morris Dees' hero. | Curtis Mayfield who is Doreen Van Lee's hero, was an influential singer and songwriter. |
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| Dan & Amy Eldon are not only Kathy Eldon's children; they are also her heroes. | Dan Eldon inspired Kathy Eldon with his art, his poetry and his life. | Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays mentored Reverend Calvin O. Butts, who is now pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY. | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Congressman John Lewis talks about how Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired him as a young man during the Civil Rights Movement |
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| Duke Ellington inspires Pulitzer Prize-winning musician Wynton Marsalis. | Errol Flynn is legendary Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee's hero and inspired many of Lee's heroes. | Explorers Among Robert Ballard's heroes are Jason and the Argonauts, Captain Nemo, Captain Cook and Joseph Campbell. | Fridtjof Nansen is Steve Fossett's hero. |
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| Heroic Women Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai writes about the heroic women who have inspired her. | Jimmy Carter For as long as she can remember, Sherry Lansing has considered President Carter her hero. | Joan of Arc was poet Christine de Pisan's hero. | Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta is Kerry Kennedy's hero because of his human rights work in East Timor. |
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| Joseph Rotblat is a hero and a friend to Nobel Peace Prize-winning doctor, Bernard Lown. | My Father, Arthur Newman Actor, businessman, philanthropist Paul Newman on his dad. | My Father, Ronald Reagan talks about his father's examples and those of the Tibetan Monks and Nelson Mandela | My Father, Rupfure Thomas & Nelson Mandela and Rupfure Thomas are heroes to lifesaver Paul Rusesabagina. |
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| My Sister: Jennifer Bird Women's basketball star Sue Bird talks about her sister and her hero: Jen Bird | My Teachers : Billie Jean King honors her teachers in her essay featured in My Hero. | Nelson Mandela is Muhammad Ali's hero because he understands what it means to fight against enormous odds | Nelson Mandela Children's troubadour Raffi writes about his hero, Nelson Mandela |
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| Paul Robeson's Heroes include Denmark Vesey, Frederick Douglass, and Jawarahal Nehru. | Saint Francis of Assisi was a true example of harmonious existence on Earth | The Concept of Heroes is the topic of Elie Wiesel's essay, published in My Hero Extraordinary People on the Heroes Who Inspire Them | Vedran Smailovic 'The Cellist of Sarajevo,' is Peacemaker Jason Crowe's hero. |
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| William Beebe Sylvia Earle's hero, was a deep-sea diver and naturalist. |
Last changed on:12/11/2006
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