Will her life of anti-establishment activism come to be as misrepresented as Martin Luther King’s has been?

Afua Hirsch (If Winnie had been white, critics would call her a hero, 4 April) concludes that “The death of Madikizela-Mandela is another opportunity to choose between a narrative of white supremacy and the one that overthrew it.” I choose Nelson Mandela and his efforts of peace and reconciliation. Every article Afua Hirsch writes for the Guardian nowadays (the only newspaper I read, with the Observer) can only sow division, hatred, grudges and rancour. Sure, racism still rears its ugly head but can’t Hirsch acknowledge that there has been some progress since the days of Wellington, Nelson and Churchill?

Renee Wartski

London

• Afua Hirsch has a way of uncovering and articulating painful realities that we need to face. Her writing on Winnie Mandela cuts through layers of slanted history and residual double standards which perpetuate injustice and inequality. Moreover, it is a humbling reminder that many – if not most – of us would have been personally broken by the treatment Winnie Madikizela-Mandela suffered at the hands of the apartheid regime. Thank you, Afua.

Judith Large

Stroud, Gloucestershire

• A typically thought-provoking piece by Gary Younge about the US’s misrepresentation of Martin Luther King’s life of anti-establishment activism (How a rebel leader was lost to history, G2, 4 April).

I wonder if a similar sanitising process will apply to Winnie Mandela’s legacy. Perhaps 50 years after her death she will be regarded by South Africans in a similar light as Nelson Mandela and will have a memorial statue in her honour. And they say history is written by the victors.

Mike Pender

Cardiff

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