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rhe I.S. Revolution 111 at
Supported Mandela
By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Correspondent
INGTON (NNPA) - Nearly three decades ago. a handful of
black activists began organizing a movement that would
help break the back of apartheid in South A frica and force
avemment and American companies to end their support of
ority rule on the continent.
.vas called the Free South Africa Movement began on
ing Day 1984, when then-U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner
tees Berry; TransAfrica executive director Randall Robin-
D.C. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, and current-D.C. Del-
mor Holmes Norton (then alaw professor al Georgetown
). were granted a meeting at theSouth African Embassy in
>n. D.C?
>up called for an end to apartheid and the release of all po-
oners in South Africa. When their demands were ignored,
ts staged a sit-in at the South African embassy on Massa
venue. N.W. i ,
t Norton were arrested for trespassing, and their actions
onal. then international news.
were already protests before, but no one got any momen-
ryrecalls. "We wanted to get arrested. And we tried to get
ed upto get arrested the next day."
ot arrested the next day; the day after that and the follow ing
ct. every day for a year, the Free South Africa Movement
lustrations at the South African Embassy in Washington.
scent movement attracted support from celebrities, mem-
’ongress and other high-profile people, many of whom
protest and allowed themselves to be arrested in order to
e attention to the issue. Before long, chapters of Free South
ang up across the United States.
s not forget that Britain, the U.S. and all of the western
beled Mandela a terrorist and steadfastly propped tip the
regime - they were on the wrong side of history ," say s civil
der Jesse Jackson. Mandela is not gone, he remains with
. He'll always be a chin bar to pull up on. He has left this
he soars high among the heavens, and his eloquent call for
ind equality is still heard among the winds and rains, and in
of the people the world over."
Frances Berry; a professor of history at the University of
mia. remembers the personal side of Mandela.
ding with him in personal interactions - having the privi-
with him and talk to him in an informal setting a- he was
; Not at all full of himself, and completely down to earth
igh he was larger than life. He consideredI himself on the
I as an ordinary person, and he didn't take himself too seri-
loved a joke and alway s had w itticisms."
maintain pressure on the streets, movement organizers or-
legislative assault on apartheid, resulting in passage of the
ensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986.
an entire y ear to get it passed by Congress and presented to
Reagan for his signature. Instead of signing, how ever. Rea-
d it. But supporters had enough votes to override the veto.
n line were U.S. companies that profited from doing busi-
ic white-ruled nation, including Shell Oil. which had been
i workers in South Africa. Boy cotts were launched against
tell as the Krugerrand, a South African currency that would
n illegal import under the Anti-Apartheid Act.
while the United States and other governments had con-
dandela and continued to support the South African govern-
ti-apartheid movements gained traction. Something about
rican apartheid had struck a chord, especially for people of
iescent.
; were chapters of FSAM all over the country and there
ty white people in those chapters, but the leadership was
lack. People got involved because our message was simple,
me. if people didn't remember Jim Crow or the Civil Rights
lit. then their parents did." says Berry. "We told people that
i African government passed laws just like w hat we did here,
ed with people in this country."
n Foote, founder and president of the Constituency for Af-
worked to foster African and African American relations
than 35 y ears. He remembers watching Mandela become a
mbol of injustice.
11 people of African descent learned about apartheid, it didn't
i much different than what happened with slavery;" he say s.
link with Mandela - who would've thought you'd have this
strong, pow erful man come out of prison after 27 y ears w ith
p. and do the things he did. He got us to think differently
rica."
says. "He was one of the greatest people to walk the Earth,
in our lifetime. There's discussion of Mandela happening in
idia. all over the world."
sees parallels between black South Africans' regard for
)bama. and black Americans' regard for Nelson Mandela,
y for those w ho visited South Africa during Mandela's presi-
th Africans] based their revolution against apartheid on us."
ys. "People, especially white people, try not to make that
on. try not to foster any relationship between Africans and
nericans - but the South African revolution was very much
the Civil Rights Movement."
erry. Mandela's life and anti-apartheid work taught her that
nts require perseverance, especially during low moments,
learned how to make movements effective.
inforced the view that it takes grassroots movements work-
her with political action to make change." she states. "If
nize around a simple issue - and messaging has a lot to do
and if the issue is clearly one of morality. y ou can prevai 1.“
NELSON MANDELA (File photo from a visit to the United States)
Reform Law Could Pose Major Threat to Black Banks
By Charles Ellison
Special to the NNPA from The Philadelphia Tribune
When President Obama signed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (otherwise known as Dodd-Frank) into law in the
summer of 2010. no one coOd be satisfied. Only bill creator and outgoing Sen. Chris Dodd was putting a happy spin on it at the time, while
Rep. Barney Frank, a famously crabby Congressman from southern Massachusetts, reluctantly put his political capital behind it before retir
ing.
Supporters of the law were pretty dim on its prospect as an effective Wall Street enforcement tool, w ith many decry ing it as toothless.
Critics, on the other hand, w ere equally disdain fill for different reasons: They saw Dodd-Frank as not only the bane of the financial services
industry and big banks, but the catacly smic end of capitalism as w e knew it.
Three y ears later, and Wall Street is still humming along alive and well w ith record breaking markers on the stock market. The top banks,
wealth management and other financial service firms in the United States hold over $10 trillion in total assets, according to the latest Federal
Reserve report, nearly $3 trillion more than they held in 2008 before the Great Recession laid waste to the economv.
But as the fog of Dodd-1 rank appears to lift somew hat. critics on both sides of the aisle agree that the law's focus on big banks has come at
the expense of smaller community banks. I hat includes the less than tw o dozen African American-owned banks lightly sprinkled throughout
the nation and struggling to serve economically battered African American communities.
According to a white paper released during a recent Community Bank Research Conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank ol
St. Louis, more than 250 banks with assets under $250 million have failed since 2002. The bulk of those failures occurred at the onset of the
financial crisis in 2009 but continued persisting even as Dodd-1 rank went into effect. While the rate at which smaller banks failed decreased
significantly, it didn't go unnoticed by experts that the pace of big bank failures since Dodd-Frank dropped sharply compared to small outfits
In 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. 30 banks with assets over $1 billion failed. But. by 2012. only 1 big bank failed compared to 35
smaller community banks.
"Communities cannot reach their full potential w ithout the local presence of a bank." warned Thomas Boy Ie. vice chairman of Illinois-
based State Bank of Country side during a Congressional hearing on Dodd-Frank in 20II. "Hundreds of new regulations - are slow ly but
surely strangling traditional community banks and handicapping our ability to meet the credit needs of our communities."
Iwo years later. B. Doy Ie Mitchell. .Ir.. President and CEO of Industrial Bank, is ringing the same alarm bell. Testify ing before a House
Small Business Committee panel kist week. Mitchell s tone was grim in his assessment of Dodd-l rank's impact on his business. Industrial,
based in Washington. D.C.. is one of the largest and oldest A frican-American banks in the country, w ith total assets valued near $350 million.
"These regulations are being enacted in response to the worst abuses of the pre-crisis mortgage market, abuses in w hich community banks
did not engage." explained Mitchell during testimony. "In order to reach their full potential as cataly sts for entrepreneurship, economic growth
and job creation, community banks must have regulation that is calibrated to their size, lower-risk profile, and traditional business model."
(Continued On Page 12) (