A Death in the Family, on the World Cup's Eve

On her way home from a celebratory concert to kickoff the 2010 World Cup, Nelson Mandela's 13-year-old daughter, Zenani, was killed by a drunken driver in a one-car accident, according to press reports. The driver probably faces vehicular homicide charges.

To mourn Zenani's loss, Nelson Mandela did not attend the opening ceremonies.


He is no stranger to family tragedy. In 1969, as he began to serve a life sentence for subversion, Mandela received a telegram informing him that his eldest son had died in a car crash. Prison authorities did not allow Mandela to attend the funeral.

Yet gaining his release and becoming the first president of post-apartheid South Africa did not insulate him from personal pain, either. In 2005, he announced that his last surviving son had died of AIDS-related medical problems.

Life gives no free pass, even for one of the most lauded citizens of the world.

A Conspiracy of Hope: 24 Years and Running

It's getting rather thin, but I've still got the t-shirt - from the Conspiracy of Hope benefit concerts for Amnesty International, twenty-four years ago. I bought it from a student at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, where I studied for the Missouri bar exam in the summer of 1986.

Though I didn't see any of concerts, even on TV, I'm grateful for the glimpses still available, courtesy of You Tube.



When Peter Gabriel took the stage at the New Jersey Meadowlands in May of 1986 to sing his anthem "Biko," Nelson Mandela was in prison and apartheid was still very much in place in South Africa. Mikhail Gorbachev was only just beginning his reform efforts in the Soviet Union.

Much has changed for the better in the world since then. South African apartheid is gone, as is the Soviet Union. Yet so much remains to be done.

What is the ongoing legacy of the concerts and the aspirations to which they gave voice? To paraphrase Peter Gabriel at the Meadowlands, it's up to us.