On Meet The Press this morning, Al Sharpton discussed Nelson Mandela’s support from Communist nations and said it’s a “betrayal of history” to suggest the United States always supported his efforts to end apartheid.
“Let’s remember, the ANC that he refers to, they were pursuing freedom,” he said. “Many of the Communist nations embraced them; this country did not. So it’s not like they were born Marxists — they were born people seeking to be free.”
He added that the United States “denounced them and denigrated them,” and that we initially chose the wrong side.
“If you’re drowning and someone throws you your raft to get out, you don’t call them a rafter, you call yourself the one that’s trying to stop from drowning,” he said. “Those are the ones that threw the raft in South Africa for freedom fighters.”
Watch his comments below:
