New Yorkers are mourning the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela, who died Thursday at the age of 95. Both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced flags at City Hall and state buildings would be lowered to half-staff to remember the iconic anti-apartheid leader.
Mandela visited New York City several times over the last few decades and every trip was highly anticipated by the people of New York.
In 1990, a ticker-tape parade was thrown in honor of Mandela and he spoke to a sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium. He visited again after he was elected president of South Africa and then later in 2001 following the attacks on September 11th. In 2005, Bloomberg gave Mandela a key to the city.
“The ticker-tape parade Mayor Dinkins organized for him in 1990 was a great moment for our city," said Bloomberg in a statement. "And his visit here in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 helped give our city strength and hope — for which we will be forever grateful."
The historic Apollo Theater announced Mandela's death on it's marquee, which read: "In memory of Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013. He changed our world."
Bloomberg also announced Friday that the city will create a high-school focused on social justice named after Mandela, the New York Post reports.
The school will be located in Brooklyn at the Boys & Girls High School building. Mandela visited the high school during his 1990 New York Trip.
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio worked in the Dinkins in administration and heard Mandela speak at Yankee Stadium in 1990. "We came to believe in his fight for justice and democracy as if it were our own," said de Blasio in a statement. "For so many of us, the fight for a free South Africa became the rallying cry of our generation."
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