Statement by 1199SEIU President George Gresham

The world mourns the loss of the great Nelson Mandela, as it has not mourned another human being since perhaps our own Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The word “icon” has become a cliché after careless overuse, but in the case of President Mandela, icon is absolutely appropriate. He was a man of enormous courage, relentless determination, great vision, and moral rectitude—a man for the ages, for sure. His is a story of biblical proportions: a shackled prisoner on an isolated island acquiring—through the force of his example—more power and influence than the government that imprisoned him.

We in 1199SEIU have special memories of President Mandela. We are extremely proud that many of our leaders and members went to jail in anti-apartheid civil disobedience actions at the South African Consulate in New York and Embassy in Washington, D.C. This was at a time when our own government was an ally of the apartheid government and considered Mandela a “terrorist.”

When, upon his release from prison, Mandela came to New York, 1199ers were privileged to partner with Mayor David Dinkins, Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, Harry Belafonte and other longtime friends of our union in hosting this great human rights leader. Over one million New Yorkers turned out to welcome him from JFK airport to Bedford-Stuyvesant and East New York, to City Hall and a parade up Broadway, all the way to Yankee Stadium. 1199 members marched at the front of the ticker-tape parade. And during the first democratic elections in South Africa, many 1199 leaders and members travelled there as observers. In subsequent post-apartheid years, we have organized many exchanges and visits between 1199ers and South African healthcare workers and human-rights and labor leaders.

It was a sad but fitting irony that we learned of President Mandela’s passing on December 5th while presiding over a memorial service for Bill Lynch at our union headquarters. In attendance were Mayor Dinkins, Basil Paterson, Elinor Tatum, Hazel Dukes and so many anti-apartheid activists and early admirers of Nelson Mandela. While he could not be with us that day for obvious reasons, we are enormously proud that Patrick Gaspard, one of Bill Lynch’s top lieutenants in the Dinkins City Hall and a former Executive Vice President of our union, is now US Ambassador to South Africa.

Nelson Mandela was an extraordinary human being. He will never simply be an object of admiration and respect, although he has always been that. But his life is also a challenge to all of us to find “the better angels” within ourselves. We best honor the memory of Mandela, like King, not with our words but our actions in the ongoing struggle for human rights, workers’ rights, and social justice. Amandla Ngwethu! Power to the People!