South African Teacher Desmond Tutu was sick and tired of white supremacy. When a racist law mandated the separation of Black and white students, the weight of the law was too much to bear. So after a visit to his priest, he did something extraordinary.
He quit his job and studied to be a priest! While he studied, racist laws spread. By the time he finished his studies, the system of apartheid was in full swing. But something else was happening that would give Tutu the power to fight back in an extraordinary way.
Tutu climbed the ranks of the religious hierarchy. He used his pulpit to speak out more and more against apartheid and the injustices happening because of that vile system. He even lent his voice to an armed Black faction that fought racism!
Of course, white people were upset – but Black people were affected in another way.
Tutu’s spiritual approach strengthened our spirits and gave us the courage to keep fighting to destroy racism. We organized even more and fought for equality. It took some time but apartheid was eventually abolished!
Tutu won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work, but his greatest achievement was using his platform to fight for justice. His work reminds us that our spirits are just as important as our bodies in the fight for liberation.