Dec 6, 2013 2 min read 57th Assembly District

The Day: Fort Greene Remembers Nelson Mandela

Madiba Restaurant in Fort Greene set off paper lanterns in honor of Nelson Mandela last night. The restaurant is named for the South African anti-apartheid leader and serves as a New York gathering spot for South Africans. (Photo by Ben Fractenberg)

Good morning, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

When Nelson Mandela died yesterday at the age of 95, dozens of New Yorkers ran to Madiba Restaurant – a place on DeKalb Avenue named for the anti-apartheid, Nobel Prize-winning leader – to sing South African songs and light paper lanterns that floated up into the sky, according to DNAInfo. Mandela came to New York just months after being released in 1990, after he spent almost 30 years in a South African prison for opposing the white government’s segregation policy. Madiba Restaurant opened in 1999 and has since been a gathering spot for South Africans in the city.

How have you memorialized Mandela? Let us know in the comments below.

Break out your fanciest holiday dress tonight for Brown Memorial Baptist Church’s Annual Holiday Gala. For a ticket donation of $65, you can celebrate the season with fellow locals. All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Pilgrims Restoration Project. The event will be held from 7 p.m. until midnight at Fellowship Hall, located at 52 Gates Avenue, between Washington and Waverly avenues, and you can RSVP by calling Deaconess Diana Brown at (718) 638-6121.
On Saturday, Dec. 21, check out Fulton Area Businesses (FAB) Alliance’s Boombox Parade called “Peregrine.” Presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a part of Make Music Winter, The parade will follow composer Phil Kline through the streets of Fort Greene as he performs a 45-minute piece of electronic music. The first 50 participants will be given boomboxes, but paraders are encouraged to bring their own. The walk begins in front of BAM’s Peter Jay Sharp Building, located at 30 Lafayette Avenue, at 4 p.m. The walk ends with hot drinks and holiday treats at Cuyler-Gore Park at 5 p.m.
With the holiday season approaching, it’s time to bake festive cookies and treats. But instead of the usual gingerbread men and houses, this Saturday, children of all ages are invited to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center to build gingerbread ships. The special holiday “Tools & Talent” workshop is led by Le Petit Bakery – which created a precision gingerbread model of the navy yard-built USS Ohio. Participants will decorate and “commission” the ship. Each participant will also receive his or her own gingerbread ship cookie and the supplies with which to decorate. Tickets are $25 per child and can be purchased online. The event will be held at BLDG 92 from 1 until 2:30 p.m. at 63 Flushing Avenue.