President Obama joined world leaders in remembering Nelson Mandela as “one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings.”
“Through his fierce dignity and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of others, he transformed South Africa and moved all of us,” Obama said at the White House shortly after Mandela’s death was announced.
“He achieved more than can be expected of any man.”
In an unusually personal statement, Obama recalled: “My very first political action, the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was a protest against apartheid.”
“I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s life,” he said. “Like so many around the globe, I cannot imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set.”
Obama visited South Africa earlier this year and saw the jail cell where Mandela was imprisoned for decades. But Mandela’s fragile health prevented the two leaders from meeting.
Actor Morgan Freeman, who portrayed Mandela in the 2009 movie “Invictus,” called him “a man of incomparable honor, unconquerable strength, and unyielding resolve — a saint to many, a hero to all who treasure liberty, freedom and the dignity of humankind.”
“Madiba may no longer be with us,” Freeman said, using Mandela’s nickname, “but his journey continues on with me and with all of us.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who met Mandela several times, said he “changed human history.”
“Everything humanly possible that could be done to someone other than killing them was done to him, yet he maintained his dignity and his determination. It is almost unthinkable what he endured and yet forgave… He showed us that you can change the course of human history without lowering yourself to human depravity.”
At the United Nations, a Security Council meeting was halted and delegates stood for a minute in silent tribute to Mandela after word of his death.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Mandela was “a giant for justice” whose “selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom” inspired many people around the world.
“Nelson Mandela showed what is possible for our world, and within each one of us, if we believe a dream and work together for justice and humanity,” Ban told reporters.
News of his death was announced by South African President Jacob Zuma in a nationally televised address. “Our nation has lost its greatest son,” he said. “Our people have lost a father.”
Praise for the Nobel Peace Prize winner quickly poured in from around the world.
“A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero in our time,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron as he ordered the British flag to be flown at half staff outside his office, 10 Downing Street.
Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright said, “President Mandela was an activist, a prisoner of conscience, a political leader, and a venerated statesman, but he was, above all, a teacher.”
“He taught us that the power of forgiveness is greater than the power of hate, and that differences of race and nationality matter less than our shared humanity,” she added.
At Madiba, a Fort Greene, Brooklyn restaurant named after Mandela, Zimbabwe émigré Carl Hlazo, 40, said, “He represented hope for us in a society with inequality that we knew was racially based. He broke barriers.”
Restaurant GM Denis Du Preez added, “It’s a rejoice and a sadness at the same time. Rejoicing his legacy. He’s been such a spiritual mentor. You just listen to one thing he says and he brings out a comforting sensitivity. I’ll miss his voice.”
In his homeland, Mandela was remembered as an icon.
“What made Nelson Mandela great is precisely what made him human,” the clearly emotional President Zuma said. “We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.”
Additional reporting by Michael Starr and Geoff Earle