Dr. Nontombi Naomi Tutu, daughter of Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Cameron University’s campus on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
Tutu is a race and gender justice activist and discussed growing up during the Apartheid in South Africa as well as racial and social justice issues in America.
Tutu says her parents and grandparents always gave her words of encouragement during the hardships of Apartheid that she still remembers today.
“The important thing I think that my parents kept on, my parents and grandparents actually was that this is not the end of the story. So what you see going on now, the experiences you have now, this is not the end, that oppression and injustice never have the last word. So, as you live your life, live your life as someone preparing to be free, to be a productive and respected member of society, that this time of being dehumanized is not the end of the story.”
Tutu says as a child she wanted to be a diplomat and never imagined being a reverend.
“I actually went and spent time with diplomats and I realized there was no way I could be a diplomat. I do not have the patience, I can’t talk around things. So, yeah, but I really really dreamt of being a diplomat.”
Tutu says she heard the calling to become a reverend but initially refused it.
“I felt the call to the priest hood in fact from the time I was in my 20s, but I refused it because I said ‘You know, my father is a priest, I don’t want to be a priest’ this is just this thing about following in your father’s footsteps and it was through struggle with myself, with my faith, with my church, that I finally decided that the call was in fact on me.”
Tutu’s father passed away back in 2021, but she says he still inspires her daily.
“There are days I wake up and I just want to talk to him, just want to ask him, you know, am I crazy? Or you know, what do you think I should do about this and when my children are doing things I would have gone to him to ask about, you know staying calm in the midst of family drama because he was really good at that and I’m not. So, I hold on to that part of him trying to say to myself you know, ‘If he were here he would say to me improve your argument, don’t raise your voice’. If he were here to me, he would say there’s not point in raising your blood pressure, you know this is what we need to deal with and that he would laugh at himself a lot and I am slowly learning that laughing at myself actually helps in dealing with all kinds of situations and conflicts.”
To learn more about Nontombi Naomi Tutu and the work she does you can visit https://www.naomitutu.com/
