Or go to the same schools

Or swim in the same pools

Or do other stuff together 

That would have been cool

A terrible rule they called “Apartheid”

Put people of color on the very far side

Of anything good or anything right

And it made it scary to get through the night

But Nelson Mandela stood up and said “NO”!

This terrible Apartheid and separation must go.

People are people of any color skin

What makes a person is what is within

Be the change in the world that you want to see

And together we can help all people be free

So he fought and he fought

But then he got caught

They put him in jail

But he couldn’t be bought

He hooted, he hollered, he kept on fightin’

Eventually the world saw Apartheid needed rightin’

So they got behind Nelson and heeded the call

And he united the country with freedom for all

That’s how it happened

And that’s how it went

That Nelson Mandela became 

South Africa’s first black president

He lived to the ripe old age of 95

And died a hero who touched so many lives.

My son looked at me with pride in his eyes

And said “I am black people” which made me surprised

For his skin was not black (it was whiter than mine)

I went to correct him, but then realized

His innocent words were really quite wise

Nelson Mandela fought to end Apartheid

So the color of skin would no long divide

And it's up to each of us to decide

That what really matters is what is inside.