My name is John Edgar Wideman. There is a kind of glory in the struggle. I was lucky enough to be in South Africa when Mandela- the day he was released, and I heard him speak to his comrades, who he hadn’t seen some of them for 27 years. When he walked into the room, he said, I knew that I was coming out of that prison. He said, I knew they were going to release me because I could feel what was happening in the streets. The people had decided I was coming out. That’s why I’m out here. Think about a Mandela and the powers that were arrayed against him, think of a Mumia and the powers that are lined up against him, and take heart.
