The Power of a Martyr's Legacy

A dead leader is infinitely more powerful than a living one. When Patrice Lumumba

was assassinated in 1961, his enemies thought they were crushing a rebellion,

but they actually created a global icon. Here is the wild part.

Before he died, many Congolese students actually looked down on him. They bought into

colonial lies that he was just an uneducated agitator. But the moment he was martyred,

the script flipped. His death radicalized an entire generation of students who suddenly saw him

as the ultimate symbol of freedom. They tried to destroy his body with acid, but they only succeeded

in making his spirit immortal.