Saying Goodbye to another leader who has made transition

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died at the age of 90. He passed on Sunday, December 26, 2021. For those of you who may not know the name, he was one of South Africa’s esteemed and admired leaders. He, much like South Africa’s first Black President, fought against the racist system of Apartheid in that nation for many years. He was also known as a defender of Human Rights. He’s been awarded honorary degrees from Universities in Germany, England, and the United States, and let’s not leave out the fact that he is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, one of the highest achievements any human being can receive. He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1984.
Tutu was born in 1931 in South Africa, and he was educated in South African mission schools where his father was an instructor. His dream was to go into a medical career. However, the money wasn’t there to pay for that education. Instead, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became an educator in 1955. A few years later, he enrolled at St. Peter’s Theological College and was ordained an Anglican priest in 1961. In 1962 he moved to London, wherein in 1966, he obtained an M.A. from King’s College London.
From 1972 to 1975, he served as an associate director for the World Council of Churches. He was appointed dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg in 1975, the first Black South African to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978, Tutu served as bishop of Lesotho.
In 1978 Tutu accepted an appointment as the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and became a leading spokesperson for the rights of Black South Africans. During the 1980s, he played a major role in drawing national and international attention to the iniquities of apartheid. He emphasized nonviolence as a means of protest and encouraged the application of economic pressure by countries dealing with South Africa.
In 1985, at the height of the township rebellions in South Africa, Tutu was installed as Johannesburg’s first Black Anglican bishop, and in 1986 he was elected the first Black Archbishop of Cape Town, thus becoming the primate of South Africa’s 1.6 million-member Anglican church. In 1988, Tutu took a position as chancellor of the University of the Western Cape in Belleville, South Africa.
During South Africa’s moves toward democracy in the early 1990s, Tutu pushed the idea of South Africa as “the Rainbow” nation. In 1995, South African President Nelson Mandela appointed Tutu head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated allegations of abuses during the apartheid era.
Tutu retired from the Primacy in 1996 and became archbishop emeritus. In July 2010, he announced his intention to withdraw from public life in October. Although, he said he would continue his work with the Elders, a group of international leaders he cofounded in 2007, for the promotion of conflict resolution and throughout the world. On October 7, 2010—his 79th birthday—he began his retirement.
Throughout the 1980s, Archbishop Desmond Tutu traveled around the world educating the masses about Apartheid. That was all a part of forming the movement, forcing the South African government to end its apartheid-based policies. Along the way in his travels, he made his way to Philadelphia in January of 1986 when he gave a speech at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nine months later, in an effort involving US Representative William Gray (former Pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia), Congress passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act to impose sanctions on South Africa.
Apartheid did not officially end until the 1990s, but the passage of the law marked a milestone in Tutu’s efforts to dismantle racial segregation in his homeland. Protests in colleges were considered one of the main drivers of the movement against Apartheid. A few days earlier, during his January 1986 visit to Philadelphia, Archbishop Desmond Tutu received an honorary degree in law from Temple University, which in late 1985 had divested $2.75 million in stock from companies doing business with South Africa.
Tutu authored or coauthored numerous publications. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Tutu received numerous honors, including the U.S. Presidental Medal of Freedom (2009), an award from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation that recognized his lifelong commitment to “speaking truth to power” (2012), and the Templeton Prize(2013).
Other national or international people who made transition in 2021 include Biz Markie, the pioneering rap star whose hit song, “Just A Friend,” made him a household name in the 1990s, died on July 16. He was 57 years old.
John Chaney, the former longtime men’s college basketball at Temple University who recruited student-athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds in the face of an NCAA rule (proposition 48) that he decried as racist in part because it penalized students who were too poor to live in better school districts, died on Jan. 29. He was 89 years old.
Rapper DMX died on April 9 at the age of 50 after suffering from a heart attack. The influential hip-hop artist was known for his introspective lyrics that explored his trauma and his light. The Grammy-nominated artist, whose real name was Earl Simmons, released a total of eight studio albums during his career, which spanned over 20 years. He died after being hospitalized at White Plains Hospital in New York.
“Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, the legendary boxing middleweight champion, died March 13 at the age of 66. Hagler’s wife said in a Facebook post that he “passed away unexpectedly at his home” in New Hampshire. During his career that spanned 14 impressive years, Hagler lost just two times and scored 53 knockouts while amassing 62 wins.
Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, a member of the legendary band the Roots, died on Dec. 16 after battling cancer for more than a decade. A skilled bassist, Hubbard was 62. Diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, multiple myeloma, Hubbard left the Roots in 2007. His wife told Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate that Hubbard had been in remission, but his health took a turn for the worse. She was not allowed to stay with him because of COVID-19 protocols.
Legendary actress Cicely Tyson died on Jan. 28 at the age of 96. She was one of the most acclaimed actresses in Hollywood, paving the way for Black thespians while representing the last of the film industry’s golden age. But her road to success was tested at several points in her career where she was faced with racism, sexism, and misogyny. Throughout her career, which spanned over 60 years in television, film, and theatre, Cicely was nominated for 52 awards, with 49 wins.
Michael K. Williams, the veteran character actor who rose to fame playing the role of Omar Little, a drug dealer-robbing and openly gay street gangster in the award-winning drama, “The Wire,” was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment following an accidental drug overdose. He was 54.
Young Dolph, a prominent and popular Memphis rapper, was shot and killed in his hometown on Nov. 17 during an apparent ambush by two gunmen with high-powered weapons. The rapper born Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr., was just 36 years old.