December 10, 2013 01:38 PM UTC

Liz Cheney Defended Apartheid from Safety of Colorado College Dorm

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• by: Zappatero

(OK, so this is Wyoming-related rather than CO, but I think we can spare a moment to discuss a race to the north.)

With the death of Nelson Mandela, many have taken time to look back at the man and how the world reacted to Apartheid, the virulent racism of the South African government, and Mandela's super-human quest to earn Freedom for his fellow African citizens within his beloved country.

Many Republicans and Conservatives around the world have attempted to whitewash (pun intended) their actions at the time. Some, like former Veep Dick Cheney, have no regrets about any of their actions and are perfectly happy to have kept Apartheid in place as a service to their right wing friends and powerful multinational corporations based in America.

Well surprise, surprise Gomer, we now find out from Mother Jones via DailyKos that Liz Cheney was just as political, and vicious, then as she is now:

In the 1980s, when Liz Cheney was attending Colorado College, a campus group called the Colorado College Community Against Apartheid led regular demonstrations to push the college to adopt a policy of divestment—a form of economic protest in which the college would agree not to invest in companies that had business interests in South Africa. Throughout the country in those years, students at universities and colleges were pushing administrations and boards to dump their investments in firms that engaged in commerce with South Africa, including such corporate powerhouses as IBM.

The Colorado College group, as did protesters on other campuses, constructed a "shanty town" on the quad, and it organized an on-stage demonstration at the school's 1987 graduation ceremony. That year's commencement speaker: Liz Cheney's mother, Lynne.

In her op-ed for the Catalyst, Liz Cheney did refer to the white South African regime as a "racist government" that had "oppressed South African blacks." But she argued against punitive economic action—and dismissed the entire divestment movement.

"South Africa is indeed a moral cesspool and as free and democratic people we have a responsibility to do something," she wrote. But divestment, she argued, would amount to an empty gesture.

There's no blame to Colorado College here; it's obviously genetic as both her father and mother are practiced and unapologetic liars.

Some might be surprised to know Mandela wanted that divestment to occur. He knew the power of money to stifle change in politics further encourage the status quo. 

So did, and does, Liz Cheney:

Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress supported divestment, but what did they know about ending apartheid? Not as much as college student Liz Cheney, that's for sure! Then she threw in that personal Cheney touch:

Those eager to make such statements should also realize that, frankly, nobody's listening.

At the time Cheney claimed that nobody was listening, 155 colleges had fully or partially divested from South Africa. The United States Congress had not only passed a bill imposing sanctions against South Africa, but had overridden a veto by Reagan.

The last the we need is another Cheney walking the halls of congress, sniffing their noses at the people, working tirelessly for the rich and powerful.

The last thing Mandela needed in his quest to end Apartheid was a rich, snotty, spoiled student sitting in the comfort of their dorm* at CC saying that no one was listening to his epic fight for Freedom.

* – actually, with the family's wealth she might well have been living at The Broadmoor…