JOHANNESBURG (AP) - President Barack Obama says Nelson Mandela earned his place in history through struggle, shrewdness, persistence and faith.
Obama is eulogizing the former South African president at a memorial service in Johannesburg. He's comparing Mandela to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.
Obama is urging the world to act on Mandela's legacy by fighting inequality, poverty and racism. He says progress in the U.S. and South Africa mustn't cloud the fact there's still work to be done. He says South Africa shows us that we can change.
Obama calls Mandela the last great liberator of the 20th century, and says he thinks about how to apply Mandela's lessons to himself as a man and as president.
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