And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "LPDC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Desmond Tutu calls Leonard Peltier
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:07:38 -0500
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South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu talks to Leonard Peltier by phone and
makes a statement of support to media. Desmond Tutu called Leonard while he
was in Lawrence to make a speech. Here are two news reports. The Kansas
City Star is not correct, he called and did not visit Leonard.
In the afternoon, Tutu spoke by telephone with Leonard Peltier, who is
incarcerated at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Leavenworth. Peltier is
serving two life terms resulting from a 1975 shootout in which two FBI
agents were killed. Tutu called his imprisonment a "blot on the judicial
system" in the United States. "I would hope that his campaign -- the
campaign to have him freed -- will succeed."
From The Journal World Lawrence, Kansas.
While in Lawrence, Tutu met with pen pal Rachel Sixta, a fourth-grader from
Prairie Village. He also went to Leavenworth, where he visited imprisoned
American Indian activist Leonard Peltier.
>From the Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO
LPDC Note: Tutu called and did not visit Leonard Peltier
Complete text of both stories
Nobel prize winner seeks peace during KU lecture
Updated 12:23:28 AM Monday, April 19, 1999
By Tim Carpenter
Journal-World Writer
Archbishop Desmond Tutu's personal victory over apartheid five years ago was
marked by the simple act of putting pencil to paper in a voting booth.
Tutu -- who had won a Nobel Peace Prize a decade earlier for his peaceful
campaign against South Africa's policy of racial division -- waited 63 years
to do what most Americans take for granted. Nelson Mandela, the other titan
in the drive for emancipation, waited 76 years to vote.
"It was a miracle unfolding before our eyes," Tutu told about 4,000 people
Sunday night during the KU Student Lecture Series at Allen Fieldhouse.
He said people in the United States who raised their voice against
apartheid, including student activists at KU, furnished international
pressure that helped loosen shackles keeping freedom out of reach for black
South Africans.
"I speak on behalf of millions, thank you ... for the support you gave us,"
the archbishop said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. For our victory, in a
very real sense, is your victory."
Tutu, wearing a dark suit and customary wire-rimmed glasses, was given a
standing ovation when he stepped on the stage and when he departed. The
visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta focused his remarks on
respect for diversity and commitment to peaceful coexistence.
"I hope we affirm diversity and celebrate our differences," he said.
In a news conference before the speech, Tutu said wealthy Western nations,
including the United States, came to the aid of countries with majority
white populations more readily than countries mostly populated by blacks.
"There is no question, in our perception, it is still the case that one
white person's life is worth any number of black person's lives," Tutu said.
He said all humans deserved to be valued equally.
"Compassion and caring should not be determined by the color of a person's
skin."
Tutu said a complete life required people to embrace folks unlike
themselves -- different age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
language.
"We need other human beings to become human ourselves," Tutu said. "On our
own, we are impoverished."
He said people regrettably worked the hardest to find simple answers when
challenged by complex times. This quest for easy solutions often has led to
tragedy. The approach produced ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, genocide in
Africa and the Holocaust in Europe, he said.
"I would hope you have zero tolerance for intolerance. The mature person is
the one who makes room for diverse points of view. The mature person is not
frightened by diverse points of view."
In regard to war in Kosovo, Tutu said there would be no lasting peace until
Serbs and Albanians had an honest dialogue about the past and future.
Compassion must rule conduct when the bombing and shooting stops. All
villains -- regardless of how ghastly their crimes -- deserve sympathy as
children of God, he said.
"There is always a possibility that a person can change. You don't give up."
In the afternoon, Tutu spoke by telephone with Leonard Peltier, who is
incarcerated at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Leavenworth. Peltier is
serving two life terms resulting from a 1975 shootout in which two FBI
agents were killed. Tutu called his imprisonment a "blot on the judicial
system" in the United States.
"I would hope that his campaign -- the campaign to have him freed -- will
succeed."
Tutu said the United States should create a national dialogue similar to
that produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated
apartheid-era human rights abuses in South Africa and was led by the
archbishop. His commission reopened old wounds, tried to clean nagging sores
and began the healing process.
"The Native American bears a pain in the pit of their tummy," Tutu said. "So
do Africans."
Until Americans openly confront the underlying disease of injustice, he
said, the country will continue to be a place where a black man in Texas can
be dragged to death behind a pickup and a homosexual college student in
Wyoming can be beaten, tied to a fence and left to die.
"That is the chasm," he said.
Tutu met before his talk with Rachel Sixta, a fourth-grade student from
Prairie Village who had become a pen pal with the archbishop. Tutu signed
Rachel's Bible and the 10-year-old girl gave him a bound journal. The two
embraced and chatted briefly.
Tutu said individuals -- Sixta, for example, who wants to become a nurse --
have more power to change the world than they realize.
"A small movement starts an avalanche. The sea is made up of drops of water.
If you have coalitions, you can determine what agendas we follow."
-- Tim Carpenter's phone message number is 832-7155. His e-mail address is
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tutu calls for tolerance in Lawrence address
By SHAWNA A. HAMEL - The Kansas City Star
Date: 04/18/99 23:21
Todd Feeback/The Star
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu hugged 10-year-old Rachel
Sixta, of Prairie Village, before his lecture Sunday in Lawrence.
LAWRENCE -- South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sunday urged a crowd
of about 5,000 to promote the differences between people, rather than
squelch them.
"By dehumanizing and devaluing others, you are dehumanized and devalued
yourself in that process," Tutu said.
Tutu spoke at the University of Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse as part of the 1999
KU Student Lecture Series. His topic was "Bridging the Chasm Between Black
and White."
"It's so easy to hate each other because we're different, but by being
better individuals, maybe we can learn that the differences are not there
only to separate us," said Tutu, who now lives in Atlanta and teaches at
Emory University.
Tutu referred to two recent victims of racism and homophobia: a black man in
Texas who died from being dragged by a pickup truck and a gay University of
Wyoming student who was beaten and tied to a fence, left to die.
"Isn't it sad to think that we can have someone dragged to death behind a
pickup because that person is different? Or beaten and tied to a fence
because that person is different? And it can happen here, of all places.
What a sad symptom of a deeper-lying disease," Tutu said.
Looking out among the audience, Tutu smiled at white, black and yellow faces
and praised the United States for its progress in helping end apartheid in
his native country.
Tutu asked the audience to work toward changes, no matter how small and
ineffective those changes might seem.
"Remember, simply, that the sea is only made up of drops of water that come
together, and in that, lies power," he said. "I hope all of you will be
allergic to simplistic answers from now on, because they are forever
inadequate for explaining complex issues. And change -- progress toward the
acceptance of diversity -- is one of those issues."
Tutu was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for the fight against apartheid
in his homeland. In December 1995, Tutu was appointed to head the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, which investigated human-rights violations in the
apartheid era. He was named Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town in July 1996,
shortly after retirement the month before.
Tutu's message was one of unconditional love, hope and acceptance.
"How ridiculous of us it is, even here in such a generous country as this,
that the worth of a person is found in a biological attribute," he said.
"And not only is it ridiculous, it is immoral. Every biological attribute
comes with a package, and because of it, it has intrinsic worth because it
comes with being human. And it's a universal phenomenon."
To quell racial tensions and become a more peaceful society, Tutu said,
people must make themselves more tolerant and forgiving individuals --
unshackled by racism and prejudice.
"And more than anything, it is so important for us to keep remembering that
however ghastly anybody might be, that person is still a child of God," he
said.
Tutu touched on parallels between the apartheid movement in South Africa and
racial and ethnic divisions in the United States.
"One of the troubles in this country is that people are constantly making
out that we are impotent, that we are weak," Tutu said.
"Politicians are forever taking the pulse of people, and really it's us who
have the power to dictate what goes on or not. The so-called ordinary people
can and do drive the agenda in this country. And what we can do is hope we
all understand that a threat to peace in the world anywhere becomes a threat
to peace in the world everywhere."
Individuals can diminish the racial divide by embracing the knowledge that
black lives are as valuable as white lives.
"Until then, I'm afraid we're just going to continue being surprised at the
bitterness there is in the hearts of many African-Americans," Tutu said.
While in Lawrence, Tutu met with pen pal Rachel Sixta, a fourth-grader from
Prairie Village. He also went to Leavenworth, where he visited imprisoned
American Indian activist Leonard Peltier.
Sixta and Tutu met for about 15 minutes. When Tutu asked her what she wanted
to be when she grows up, she said a neonatal nurse. She asked him what he
wanted to be as a boy. His answer: a physician.
Tutu also joked with her about boys. She said she liked about half the boys
in her class, quickly adding: "But you're nice."
To reach Shawna A. Hamel, call (816) 234-5909 or send e-mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
All content � 1999 The Kansas City Star
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
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