Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisal Die

                                        FREEDOM TRIAL IN PRETORIA SOUTH AFRICA  

                                                                                                          

                                                           THE TRIAL               

 December 6, 1961                                                                                                 

     The opening paragraph from the leaflets Umkhonto We Sizwe Spear of the Nation stated that units of the “Umkhonto We Sizwe” today carried out planned attacks against government installations particularly those connected with the policy of Apartheid and race discrimination.

 July 4, 1962

     The newspaper headlines, spoke for themselves on that cold winter morning in July 1962. “James Kantor to face sabotage act trial.”   The Sabotage Act… along with nine other people. The other nine men were Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisal, Dennis Goldberg, Gavan Mbeki, Ahmed Kithara, Lionel Bernstein, Raymond Malabar, Elias Motaoaledi, and Andrew Mlangeni. 

            Charge No. 1.  Contravening the General Law                                                                        

            Charge No. 2.  Contravening the overthrow of the South Africa Government by Revolution Law                                                

             Charge No. 3 Contravening the airlifting of an invasion force to South Africa of foreign troops.          

             Charge No 4. Contravening to use laundered communist money into the ANC. (African National Congress.)  

  

       Walter Sisal died this month as did Nelson Mandela. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, the resting ground for such 19^th-century titans as jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 

         The Cemetery its self is running out of its main source of revenue: burial plots to keep it alive the 200 year old cemetery’s president Walter Sisal turned it into a nonprofit that gives guided tours and host cultural programs and art exhibits.

         "There’s too much history here to allow it to just fade away. I arrived at Greenwood as a groundskeeper 38 years ago shortly after walking off Robyn Island along with Mandela and the other guys.

        The 478-acre cemetery was established in 1838 because graveyards on Manhattan church grounds began filling up. Burial plots were at churchyards before modern cemeteries were invented. A group of entrepreneurs started the cemetery as a for-for profit business, persuading the family of the late New Your Gov. DeWitt Clinton to move his body from Clinton Cemetery in New Britain N.Y, to the Greenwood Cemetery in 1850. It was the cemetery’s big break; Clinton was the most popular New Yorker at the time. After his arrival, sales increased and it became the palace to be buried in new York.

                Over the years as the immediate family members of the people buried at Greenwood began to pass away visitation dropped. The cemetery eventually closed its historic chapel, which became too expensive to maintain. With nearly 600 million people buried at Greenwood, including infamous politician William “Boss” Tweed and Coney Island’s first hot-dog vendor, Charles Feldman, the cemetery will likely run out of new space in five years. These days, a plot sells for $11,000. New burials not only bring in people to visit, but sustain the cemetery as business. More than half of the organization’s roughly $14 million in revenue came from sales of burial plots in 2009, which dropped to $6 million 4 million in 2008. With investment income remaining flat, the cemetery’s operating loss stood at $2 million in 2009

                For Greenwood to be a relevant player, it had to be transformed into a cultural institution overturning a rule instituted in the ’60’s that allowed only lot owners or visitors of specific graves to enter the cemetery. In 1999 I began to hold community events at Greenwood and welcomed tourists.

         I oversaw the restoration of the chapel and we held weddings, concerts and book readings in the Sake. In 2006, Greenwood was designated as a National Historic Landmark and I started hosting guided tours, showcasing the famous artist, actors and Civil War heroes interred here, including General Sheridan. I also launched a summer-internship program for high-school and college students to work on historic preservation. I use to come as a kid to pick up pine cones in the winter; now I’m driving the 50 seat trolley carting people around the grounds. 

        I snagged my plot before the cemetery filled up, because I am fair skinned, and so my final resting place 1905-2013 is located under a tree out of the sun... next to Bernard Bernstein 1918-1990.”

DR. KARL WALLACE.D.D.S.

To read more of my writings go to;                           www.karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com