Despite the privileges that came with being white in the apartheid system of South Africa, Eddie Daniels grew up fighting for equality for every citizen of his country.

Daniels brought his message of peace and equality to students and faculty at the Mary Ann Wolfe Theater at Biscayne Bay Campus on Nov. 18.

"I was never a politician, I just fought for justice and dignity," Daniels said. "I believe in justice and dignity for all people."

During his speech, the 80-year-old spoke about his life during apartheid, which was from 1948 to 1994.

Daniels saw the effects of poverty in the community, and how people in poverty commit acts of violence to sometimes put food at their plate.

Daniels' father died young so his and his brothers had to go off to work.

"As a little boy, I always fought for fairness and justice and dignity," said Daniels. "As I got older, I realized that there were more evil people than the gangsters, and that was the government."

When Daniels was a high school teacher, he saw how the white children had everything, and black children weren't even given the same opportunities. He said the conditions for black residents were horrible.

Daniels said that white citizens prosperity in society and wealth grows in a diagonal line, their change to grow with increase from generation to generation. While colored citizens only inherited poverty and insults. A white child is born superior, and a black child born inferior.

He was troubled by the passes that colored citizens carried which determined where they could live and where they could find work. The passes were used to let the colored citizens work in areas where the dominate population consisted of white citizens.

At the time there were organizations against the apartheid government. One of them was the Liberal Party of South Africa.

"I found out about the Liberal Party accidentally," Daniels said.

He joined the Liberal Party because they were non-racial, meaning that anyone who opposed the apartheid regime, regardless of color of skin, could join. The party put on demonstrations against the apartheid policies.

His involvement with the party, where he was a high ranking member, lead to his arrest because of his participation in denominations and his stance against the government.

Daniels was held for 92 days in a detention center where detainees were tortured. He was then transferred to Robben Island, where he would spend 15 years of his life. There was were he met Nelson Mandela, then anti-apartheid activist, who later became the first African American president in South Africa.

"When I first met him, I did not know him in person, I knew him from a distance," said Daniels. "But in prison, the first day I was there, I was going to the toilet and this big man struck me, I looked up and saw that it was Mr. Mandela, so I said 'Good Afternoon Mr. Mandela.' He said please call me Nelson and welcome. From there on, I knew he was one of the best man to have ever walked the Earth."

The conditions of the prison were horrible, and not just the way they treated the inmates. Colored prisoners would only be allowed sandals and in the winter only shorts. It took Danieis 10 years to see the sky full with stars. He kept fighting for equality still in jail.

"I'm a South African, but if I must be classified according to color, then I'm black," Daniels said.

The Student Government Association Lectures Committee, along with Campus Life and Orientation, International Student and Scholar Services, and the Africa and African Diaspora Studies Department, contributed to organizing this event, according to Brittany Brewster, SGA-BBC Lecture Bureau chair and a junior marketing major.