Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe is a class act. In the wake of Nelson Mandela’s death, many have posted their condolences online, and Blythe was no different. However, he chose to illustrate his thoughts about the former South African president on Instagram by posting a photo of Mandela, headed off to a life sentence as a political prisoner in 1963 with his fist raised in defiance.
While Blythe’s prison term was much shorter and under vastly different circumstances, there is a bit of a parallel to be drawn between him and Mandela. After being held for a month in Prague on suspicion of manslaughter, Blythe vowed to return for the trial. He really didn’t know whether or not he’d be sentenced for the death of Daniel Nosek, but willing to do his time. For 27 years, Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner for his anti-apartheid beliefs. Actually, Blythe verbalizes this much better than we can, so read his caption below:
Today Nelson Mandela died, and many people will take to social media to say RIP Mandela & post a picture of the great man, free & smiling after 27 years in prison for allegedly conspiring to commit sabotage and conspiracy against the South African apartheid government in 1962- he was one of the finest humans of our time. I grew up hearing of this man imprisoned in South Africa, & I like millions world wide, was overjoyed when he finally was released in 1990. He came out of prison and within four years was South Africa’s first black president, having spearheaded the political movement that peacefully ended the racist apartheid government. He did great things for his people after he was free, there is no doubt. But this picture is a far more telling testament to what kind of man Mandela was than any modern photo. Here he is defiantly raising his fists with other men on the way to prison- he had JUST been given a life sentence. Mandela knew what would happen with his trial, & instead of focusing all his energy on keeping himself free, he disrupted the trial by wearing traditional garb, refused to call any witnesses to his defense & turned the trial into an arena for political speech to show the world what was happening in South Africa. He sacrificed his own freedom so that his people could one day be equals in their own native country, because he knew something had to change, & if he had to go to prison for LIFE to speed that change, so be it. He was a living example of DOING THE RIGHT THING, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. THAT is a REAL MAN. In fact, one of his most famous quotes about prison was this: “If I had my time over, I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man.” So rest in peace, Nelson Mandela. I can only hope others will take a page from your book. Your 27 years of hard time are a blessing to us all.
