Mandela’s life, death, have local impact
The death of Nelson Mandela is being felt locally, just as his life had influence locally as well as globally.
“We lost a great man who, by living and forgiving, created change not just in South Africa, but in this country,” said Dr. Jo Jankoski, assistant professor of Health and Human Development at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus.
That admiration is shared by Geraldine M. Jones, the interim president at California University of Pennsylvania.
“Nelson Mandela was an inspiring figure. As an educator, I understand the power of role models, especially for young people who are finding their own place in the world. It is important for them to realize that individuals can change the course of history by holding fast to their beliefs and living by their core values. Through his life and his legacy, Nelson Mandela taught that lesson. One of my favorite quotes from Mr. Mandela is, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”
That quote from Mandela has also been a driving force for Jankoski.
Jankoski was in graduate school in the 1980s when she first learned of Mandela and his struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
“One of his teachers was Gandhi and one of his idols was Dr. Martin Luther King, so that speaks to the type of man he was,” Jankoski said. “Learning and hearing about the number of people of color murdered by the white supremacists, I was appalled.”
For Jankoski, the injustice of apartheid opened her eyes to prejudices in her own world.
“When we say the Pledge of Allegiance we say ‘and justice for all’ and I realized we didn’t have justice for all in this country,” Jankoski said.
“I was too young for the Civil Rights Movement. I was only six or seven, so I didn’t really understand it then. It really wasn’t until graduate school,” Jankoski said.
She began looking for ways in which she could make a difference.
“I really started to look around and learned from him and from Gandhi that people in our own community are oppressed and marginalized. I started teaching classes to students on oppression,” Jankoski said.
Jankoski said it also made her take another look at poverty, influenced by Mandela’s view that poverty is man-made and so can also be remedied by individuals.
Jankoski said she was also impressed with Mandela’s capacity to forgive.
“This is a man who spent 27 years in prison and came out and did not hate the people who had imprisoned him,” Jankoski said.
“Someone called Nelson Mandela the father or morality and it really fits him. He makes us look at how we treat our neighbor.”