Firms Fail to Use Influence Against Racism, Tutu Says

South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, who gave a prayerful address to nearly 5,000 residents here, said Sunday that American corporations in his homeland have failed to use their influence properly to help dismantle the white minority regime’s institutionalized system of racial segregation.

“The corporations, American and others, have not used their clout effectively, and I believe if they were to do so, a great deal of what we are experiencing would not be happening,” the black Anglican prelate said.

A Musical Welcome

During a “human rights celebration” at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, Tutu received a key to the city from Mayor Dianne Feinstein, sang songs with Joan Baez and thousands who had come to see him and clapped and danced on stage when a children’s choir launched into the song, “We Are The World.”

In a speech that he concluded with “Amen,” Tutu told of the agonies of blacks in his homeland and the certainty he feels that apartheid will end because “God is on our side.”

Tutu arrived here Sunday after attending the graduation of his daughter, Naomi, at the University of Kentucky on Saturday.

His jammed Bay Area schedule includes a reception hosted by Feinstein, a meeting with church leaders and an address to a black church in Oakland.

Sensitive to Pressure

Speaking on divestment at a news conference, Tutu reiterated that American corporations in South Africa are keenly sensitive to the calls by students, religious leaders and government officials for withdrawal of funds in firms that do business in South Africa and indeed have already begun to respond to the pressure.

“I would say, ‘Let the pressure continue,’ ” Tutu said.

Tutu said he found University of California President David Gardner and Stanford University President Donald Kennedy “very, very receptive” in a private meeting last week. The presidents, who have been called on by their students to divest money from firms with ties to South Africa, met with Tutu at their request.