Loud Thinking December 07, 2013 at 01:37PM
The child…poem read by Mandela at inauguration of parliament, 1994
This was written by the Afrikaans poet Ingrid Jonker after the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 and read by Mandela at the inauguration of South Africa’s first democratic parliament in 1994.
THE CHILD
WHO WAS SHOT DEAD BY SOLDIERS IN NYANGA
The child is not dead
the child raises his fists against his mother
who screams Africa screams the smell
of freedom and heather
in the locations of the heart under siege
The child raises his fists against his father
in the march of the generations
who scream Africa scream the smell
of justice and blood
in the streets of his armed pride
The child is not dead
neither at Langa nor at Nyanga
nor at Orlando nor at Sharpeville
nor at the police station in Philippi
where he lies with a bullet in his head
The child is the shadow of the soldiers
on guard with guns saracens and batons
the child is present at all meetings and legislations
the child peeps through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers
the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere
the child who became a man treks through all of Africa
the child who became a giant travels through the whole world
Without a pass
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