Desmond Tutu: A Life of Servanthood Leadership

“I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.”- Desmond Tutu. It is with a great sense of sadness and grief that the international community has reacted to the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born October 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, a town in South Africa's Transvaal province. His father was a teacher and his mother was a domestic worker. While Desmond Tutu had not been in the best of health for some time; his death was still unexpected even at the youthful age of 90. For many of us, Tutu’s rise to prominence came during those challenging years of apartheid in South Africa. He was the voice of reason and an anchor which provided leadership to black South Africans who were subjected to a system of unequal treatment based on the colour of their skin. Apartheid was the institutionalized discriminatory political and economic system of racial segregation which the white minority imposed on non-whites. It was implemented by the National Party of South Africa, from 1948 until 1994. Desmond Tutu along with the late president of South Africa Nelson Mandela dedicated their lives for the improvement of their people. Tutu was the voice of compassion and forgiveness. He was an activist and advocate for the marginalized people not only in his own country of South Africa but to marginalized people globally. Archbishop Tutu was an inspiration to millions of people worldwide; his inspiring words were and still are comforting to the globally oppressed. He was fearless and well respected. Tutu was also feared by white South Africans who disliked his frankness during the apartheid era. He was not afraid to speak his mind. Tutu oftentimes spoke out against homophobia; he was an advocate of HIV/AIDS awareness and the LGBT community. Tutu had an engaging personality which allowed him to reach a wide audience. He will be remembered as much for his frankness on social issues as well as for his witty and down to earth remarks. He had an aura of humility which allowed him to walk with kings and queens but he never forgot his roots. He was grounded despite the many accolades and awards given to him. In 2009 President Barack Obama awarded Tutu the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Of course the most notable would have been the Nobel Prize. Desmond Tutu was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. A Life of Advocacy and Humility. In the 1950s, Tutu resigned as a teacher in protest of government restrictions on education for Black children, the Bantu Education Act. He was ordained in 1960 and spent the '60s and early '70s alternating between London and South Africa. In 1975 he was appointed dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg and immediately used his new position to make political statements. He was horrified at the state of Black South African schools, and even more horrified when the Bantu Education Act was passed in 1953 that racially segregated the nation's education system. He resigned in protest. Eventually, the Bishop of Johannesburg accepted him for the priesthood. Tutu believed it was because he was a Black man with a university education, a rarity in the 1950s and took up his new vocation.  To say the 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous times in South Africa is an understatement. In March 1960, 69 people were killed in the Sharpeville Massacre, when South African police opened fire on a crowd of protesters. As the government of apartheid South Africa became increasingly oppressive detaining Black people, establishing onerous laws; Tutu became increasingly outspoken. According to Chikane, the South African Council of Churches colleague, "His moral authority (was) both his weapon and his shield, enabling him to confront his oppressors with a rare impunity." South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in paying tribute to the life of Desmond Tutu described him as  "a man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world," Many have referred to Desmond Tutu as a great man. However, in a television interview, he said, he didn't feel like a "great man." "What is a great man?" he said. "I just know that I've had incredible, incredible opportunities. When you stand out in a crowd, it is always only because you are being carried on the shoulders of others." In 1988, two years after being named Archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the first Black man to head the Anglican Church in South Africa, Tutu was arrested while taking an anti-apartheid petition to South Africa's parliament. In 1995 Mandela appointed him chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the human rights violations of the apartheid years. Tutu broke down at the TRC's first hearing in 1996. He returned to teaching, becoming a visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta for two years and later lecturing at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He published a handful of books, including "No Future Without Forgiveness" (1999), "God Is Not a Christian" (2011), and a children's book, "Desmond and the Very Mean Word" (2012). The life of Desmond Tutu epitomizes humility and love. Tutu was a fierce advocate for social injustice and human rights. Tutu’s life has been one of servanthood leadership; he represented the best of humanity. Tutu was the moral and spiritual compass of South Africa. The world is a much better place for having known this quintessential champion of peace. You will be missed Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Desmond Tutu is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Nomalizo Leah Tutu, with whom he had four children, Trevor, Theresa, Naomi and Mpho. In the words of Desmond Tutu, if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo © #DesmondTutu