A Memorial Service For Nelson Mandela Held In Philadelphia

By Tim Jimenez

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Black Clergy of Philadelphia held a memorial service for late South African President Nelson Mandela Wednesday night.

Dozens made their way to the warmth of Vine Memorial Baptist Church here in West Philadelphia on a chilly night.

All to remember Nelson Mandela's life and reflect on his impact in South Africa and the world.

Among the speakers, Austin Ifedirah.

"I flew in from Pittsburgh. I felt like I had to do it to be here. I couldn't visit South Africa before '91 as a black African, I couldn't do that. But after Mandela and all the struggles of Desmond Tutu. That made it possible," Ifedirah says.

President of the Black Clergy Reverend Terrance Griffith emphasized Mandela as a revolutionary and a freedom fighter, reminding those here that he was on the U.S. Terror watch list until 2008.

But, Griffith says, in the end, the law of justice prevailed.