Connie Jenkins Remembering Madiba Facebook, December, 2013
Sometime in the mid 1980’s Santa Monica City Councilman Denny Zane invited me to have lunch with Robert Reich. I was on the Santa Monica/Malibu Board of Education and Reich, then and now a professor of economics at Berkley (and soon to become Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor), along with California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, was leading the charge to persuade public agencies to curtail investment in companies doing business in South Africa. The City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica/Malibu School district soon voted to direct the LA County Treasurer to divest funds from any companies conducting business relations in South Africa. This small local action, which was echoed throughout California, became part of the wave that ultimately swept the US Congress into voting economic sanctions against the South African government over President Reagan’s veto. Voice by voice, vote by vote, we contributed to the pressure that helped end apartheid and free Mandela and other South African political dissidents.
Every decision one makes has an effect. Today, when you chose to shop at Target or Costco instead of Walmart, that decision supports decent wages and benefits for the people who work in those stores.
In 1990, just a few months after his release from prison, Nelson and Winnie Mandela visited the US. We were among the standing room only crowd that greeted him at the Los Angeles Coliseum. We queued two hours in advance while security guards inspected every bag and pocket for missiles or weapons, an unusual precaution at the time. I have no memory of the celebrity performers that day nor of Mandela’s specific words, but I remember how small he looked and I remember Winnie Mandela’s famous head gear and her strong voice. I remember the feelings of awe and inspiration at Mandela’s humility and generous spirit. And I remember the feeling of harmony and good will in that multi-colored cross-section of Los Angeles as we flowed out of the stadium hours later to our cars and buses. In 1990, Madiba was four years older than I am now. He went on to become one of the greatest moral leaders of the twentieth century.
—— Connie Jenkins