An interesting insight into Mohandas K. Gandhi

I didn't know that he was such a racist. From Ghandism.net:

Ghandi and Blacks
Gandhi is idolized by people of all political stripes around the world, and his life is popularly considered a model for the American Civil Rights Movement.

U.S. Senator Harry Reid called Gandhi �a giant in morality.� Former U.S president Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a �National Day of Recognition for Mohandas K. Gandhi.� South African leader Nelson Mandela called Gandhi �the archetypal anticolonial revolutionary� whose �nonviolent resistance inspired anticolonial and antiracist movements.� African-American Senator Obama reportedly keeps a picture of Gandhi in his office.

Martin Luther King, Jr. associated Gandhi with the African-American struggle against inequality, segregation, and racism. Reverend King believed Gandhi was �inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward...peace and harmony.� When the Indian government paid to place a statue of Gandhi at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, Mrs. King spoke about her husband's admiration for Gandhi, saying, �It is gratifying and appropriate that this statue is installed in this historic site.�

Unfortunately, these people were never acquainted with the real, historical Mohandas Gandhi, who was a virulent racist.

And a bit more with some details:

In 1904, Gandhi founded The Indian Opinion, a newspaper which he used as a political tool to promote his personal views. It is in this paper, which Gandhi edited until 1914, that we find a record of his extensive anti-black activism and opinions. A list of anti-black quotes from his writings, in which he invariably refers to the South African natives as �Kaffirs,� can be found here. Gandhi's opinion of the native is best summarized when he calls them people �whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness.�

Finally, in 1906, Gandhi cheered on the British as they waged a war on the black Zulus. He then volunteered for military service himself, attaining the rank of Sgt. Major in the British Army and assisting the war on blacks in every way he could. You can learn more about this here.

The website has a lot of corroborating links -- an odd bit of history...