"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." -Mandela

Our goal is not only to liberate men from the stigma of oppressor but to invite all people to pursue equality without the baggage of our past. Having each successive generation carry the grievances of their ancestors cheats the young of a opportunity for a clean start. Our past is full of injustice and if any person of any background were to know the truth about all of our ancestors wrong doings we could all count ourselves as descendants of sinners. To be equal today we must be judged for what we do today. The vast crimes against humanity that preceded us needn't define us or our children.

That said there must be truth in our reconciliation. We not lie about the past or present to protect the ethnic or gender pride. If there is injustice today than let us speak about it truthfully. Where all is fair then let us celebrate it and make it a model for where it is not. We saw what happened when another gender focused movement was side tracked by it's own lies. Let's vow to never let that happen to the MRM.

"I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man. Nelson Mandela

The men in India, China, Africa are our brothers and injustice for them is an injustice for us. The same goes for the women even we wisely choose to leave their issues in the hands of far competent women's activists whom although we are often at odds with have done very good work for women around the globe. Aside from the international angle we must consider the needs of the undocumented men in the America, the black & Hispanic men who fill our prisons, the Native American and white men whose suicide rates are the highest in the nation. Recognizing the struggles of those in one race or another is a symbol of solidarity and respect. This is needed for today, because we still have people today who feel each race stand for it's own. That kind of division is a cancer just like the one between the sexes.

In the same way that Mandela detest racialism we detest sexism. Not just sexism as discrimination by gender but sexism as a system of defining people by their gender as good, bad, weak, strong, privileged, or disadvantaged. This does not mean there is no difference or pattern in race or gender. What it means is those incidental factors don't determine ahead of time who we respect, who we fight, who deserves justice, who gains our compassion. We fight for men in the hopes that one day choosing a side won't be necessary just as Mandela fought for black South Africans in the hope one day they'd be equals in their nation.

"Put the viciousness of the past aside so you can embrace the hope of the future" -Eric Dyson on Mandela

We fight for men and boys because the viciousness of the past has erased respect for them and their needs. That viciousness was as much the work of men as it was women. It's been propagated through the generations without much resistance despite Men's Rights being right their from the start of the second wave. This is an old fight and a long one. Changing cultures or in this case healing a culture can take generations more. I hope we can all have the patience of Mandela. We're going to need it.

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb." - Mandela