Advertisement

Protest Against Aparteid

Published: 1985
Play Audio Archive Story - UPI
Demonstrator (L) avoids bull horn swung toward her by San Francisco police Captain Charles Beene as he runs down the street forcing protesters back unto the sidewalk during an anti-apartheid protest otuside buildings where Univeristy of California Regents were rejecting complete divestiture of investments in South African-related businesses on June 21, 1985. The Regents accepted a compromise plan for divestment on a case-by-case basis. (UPI Photo/Martin Jeong/Files)

Dennis Daly: There were protest marches, demonstrations and arrests on college campuses and in Washington, D.C. this past year as thousands of men and women join to fight racial injustice; but unlike the protests of the '60s, this time the target was South Africa and the racially repressive system of apartheid. Reverend Jesse Jackson led one of those protests …

Reverend Jesse Jackson: "We must use our total moral, political and economic resources to oppose a system of apartheid in South Africa."

Dennis Daly: One of the most vocal critics of apartheid within South Africa was Bishop Desmond Tutu, a black Anglican Bishop who had the year before been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. When the South African Government established a state of emergency in more than 30 townships this past July, Bishop Tutu spoke out …

Bishop Desmond Tutu: "It is quite unjust that there should be a state of emergency, because we will get true justice, peace and stability from the barrel of a gun."

Dennis Daly: Despite Bishop Tutu's warnings about violence in South Africa, by year's end nearly 850 people, mostly black, would be killed in racial unrest in that country.

Advertisement
Advertisement