Cameron Turner: Ubuntu Pasadena Style

During his soaring speech at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service this week, President Barack Obama lauded the late freedom fighter and South African president as the personification of “ubuntu,” the word from South Africa’s Nguni languages which translates roughly as “humanness” or “human kindness.”

Mandela, Obama said, recognized “that we are all bound together in ways that can be invisible to the eye; there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.”

The spirit of ubuntu has been in evidence throughout the days of celebratory mourning following Mr. Mandela’s death last week at the age of 95. It was on full display during the memorial service as South Africans of every race repeatedly united in spontaneous singing and dancing under rainy skies inside a Johannesburg soccer stadium. Those jubilant multiethnic crowds were another inspiring reminder that the racially-inclusive South Africa that Nelson Mandela and so many others strove to build was, indeed, flowering.

The cross-racial togetherness of the rain-soaked celebrants at Mr. Mandela’s memorial was beautiful — and familiar. The joyful mourners looked like a lot of people I know.

Growing up in Pasadena’s public schools during the glory days of busing for desegregation, my peers and I were blessed to experience racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity from early childhood through our formative teen years. Befriending kids from different backgrounds was effortless since we sat in the same classrooms and participated in the same activities – from sports, to music, to clubs, etc. Add to that the progressive culture of the 1970s which was focused on bridging gaps, expanding cultural awareness and cultivating harmony.

Without knowing the word, we grew up living the essence of ubuntu. Today it’s basic to who we are. And the vast majority of us feel fortunate for that.

As we do every year, a bunch of friends from the John Muir High School class of ’81 (along with a few ‘82ers and others) will get together for a holiday potluck. There’ll be lots of laughing, hugging, trash talking, bragging about kids, reminiscing, a few tears and a lot of love among our fun-loving multiracial group. And once again, without having to utter the word, we will live out the wonderful truth of ubuntu.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.