Highland Par
ta ent on display
u egon
push for
be er
schools
advances
B h tori on P
Serving the State's African American Community
e
By Lany S II
NNPA News Service
WASH GTO (NNPA)­
African American leaders
from around the nation rallied
to the support of moderate"
Rev. Leon H. Sullivan after he
ed of racial violence in
South Africa and the United
Sta es he called for the
ithdra of all rican
b� from ra
partheid country.
Despite the pleas from
thousands and thousands of
Bla South Africans" Sullivan
urged an economic boycott
and embargo of the white­
ruled nation after following
t n years of his Sullivan Prin­
cip to seek a peaceful end
to the complete segregation
and humiliation of millions of
Bla natives.
Opening the 23rd Con­
vocatio of the Opportunities
Industrialization Centers, Inc.
(OIC), training program in the
Capitol, Sullivan repeated his
recent "call of conscience" for
a comp ete U.S. withdrawal
and a break in diplomatic rela­
tions because of South African
"intransigence".
Although some minimal
progress was made, the
government refused to grant
full political rights," he said
The1'he towering, si -foot,
five-inch minister who tearful-
ack
ly gave up on his ten point
program to end apartheid by
1987 with the help of the multi­
national firms, was later
joined in the convocation by
ational Urban League presi­
dent, John Jacob, NAACP ex­
ecutive Benjamin Hooks, Dis­
trict Mayor Marion Baarry,
and Tuskegee Mayor Johnny
Ford, president of the e
World Council of Mayors.
Randall Robinson, founder
of the TransAfrica Forum
lobby, which sparked protest
marches against South African
apartheid around the world,
solemnly declared, "we are
pleased to get Rev.Sullivan's
message at this time," as Rev.
Walter Fauntro (D-DC),
Rev. Jesse Jackson, Prof.
Mary Berry and entertainer
Harry Belafonte led
TransAfrica's tenth anniver­
sary celebration held the same
week.
Rep. William Gray (D- Phil)
spoke at both programs,
promising legislative support
of Rev.Sullivan's "call."
"Leon has been called a
moderate, but that's OX He's
doing the right thing and we
all support him, " Barry
declared at the OIC opening
session.
The D.C. mayor is past presi­
dent of the 249-member a­
tional Conference of Black
Mayors, but Ford promised to
take Sullivan's message as
head of OIC to the WCM
meeting with mayors from 31
countri in Peking, China in
August
'We of the Urban League
walk along beside you in your
quest for justice and equality
for America's minority poor ..
. and e march along beside
you in your batt! to win jus­
tice for the oppressed Black
masses of South Africa ... Dr.
Sullivan did what he had to do
.. " Jacob told the OIC con­
vention.
"South Africa is at the
crossroads II Sullivan declared
last wee
z
Publishers tour
African
American
useum
call
"Either (it) can go the direc­
tion of a unitary free South
Africa, or the direction of a
chaotic revolution, with the
killing of millions of people
the destruction of a country,
and the devastation of the en­
tire Southern re . on of Africa
. . . And should the United
States become involved . .
m t assuredly would, one
way or the other, race riots
ould brea out in every
major city in the country, far
orse than anything ever seen
in the history of America. .. "
But, training and jobs are
needed in America to prevent
increasing violence in the
cities among the 70 percent
unemployment of African
American youth, Sullivan
declared m his closing
remarks for the 2,000
delegates of the organization
started in an abandoned
Philadelphia jail house.
OIC now has centers in over
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