Mandela Pleads ANC Cause at Harlem Rally

Nelson Mandela, standing on a storied street corner in Harlem, pleaded the cause of his African National Congress in an emotional, tumultuous twilight rally Thursday, evoking memories of such powerful street speakers as Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

“Brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, victory is in sight,” Mandela said to 100,000 cheering supporters, some of whom were leaning out of windows or perched on fire escapes for a glimpse of South Africa’s premier black leader.

“The light at the end of the tunnel (of apartheid) now beckons, but we are not yet there,” the ANC’s deputy president said. “To reach the end of the tunnel requires that we intensify the struggle . . . and remain unrelenting in pursuit of our goal.”

One of the spectators, 49-year-old shopkeeper Dorothy Titman Hughes, said Mandela’s presence in Harlem “is a statement to us. It says he believes Harlem is a place black people can be in business, can be free and can be productive. He is at home with us here.”

On the second day of his U.S. tour, the South African black leader also preached harmony to a broad spectrum of religious leaders at a morning church service and, in a spontaneous moment, danced along with a foot-stomping congregation chanting a South African song.

Then he got the first big financial contribution of his visit--$200,000 from religious leaders for the ANC’s efforts to re-establish itself in South Africa as a political entity. Money continued to pour in later in the day, with, among others, a hospital workers’ union making a $100,000 donation.

Thursday night, 50,000 New Yorkers, who paid $5 to $25 a seat, packed Yankee Stadium--the stadium’s first sellout this year--to hear Mandela’s fourth speech of the day. After being honored with a standing ovation, Mandela donned a Yankees’ jacket and cap and told the crowd: “You now know who I am. I am a Yankee!”

Earlier, in Harlem, a predominantly black enclave of 400,000 in the northern section of Manhattan, Mandela and his wife, Winnie, were greeted by tens of thousands of New Yorkers pressing against police barricades. Members of the crowd, some of whom had camped overnight, roared when Mandela stepped out on the steps of the state office building at 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard--known locally as “Africa Square” and just down the street from the historic Apollo Theater.

“Amandla,” Winnie Mandela shouted to the crowd, using the ANC’s Zulu rallying cry that means “power.” Some in the crowd responded in the traditional South African way--”Awethu!”--”to the people.”

Her husband praised America’s black history, much of which was made in the neighborhoods around Africa Square. “From the beginning of the century, we have been inspired by the great fighters” against racism in America, includB. Du Bois, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Mandela said. “All of us descended from Africa know only too well that racism maims the victims and dehumanizes its perpetrators.”

Some in the mostly black audience wept and others cheered his words, and many spectators said they felt a special kinship with the struggle for liberation among South Africa’s 27 million blacks, who live under the rule of a white minority-led government. Tears welled up in the eyes of Malcolm X’s widow, Betty Shabazz, as she hugged Mrs. Mandela.

“Mr. Mandela is like Martin Luther King,” said Angel Rivera, 32, a city worker. “It means a lot for Harlem for him to be here.”

“The only reason I came,” said Judson Beall, a retired construction worker, “is so I can say I saw him in person, not on TV. I may be miles away, but (I’m) able to say I saw him. And I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I saw him.”

Mandela “will make it better for our kids,” said Clarence Dawkins, 52, a travel agent. “It’s not going to get any better for us, but for our kids.”

A smiling Mandela acknowledged the accolades with fist raised, joining a long line of world dignitaries, including Nikita S. Khrushchev and Cuban President Fidel Castro, who have visited America’s best-known black community. After the speech, impromptu parties broke out on adjacent streets, where revelers danced and beat drums.

Mandela, 71, had begun the day, the second of his 12-day, eight-city tour of the United States, with an impromptu 20-minute walk around a park near Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York Mayor David N. Dinkins, where the Mandelas are staying. Mandela was surrounded by a battery of security agents, and a police captain held an umbrella over his head to shield him from the light drizzle.

“It was nice, thank you,” Mandela said to his protectors. “I didn’t think it would be this much trouble.”

Mandela later attended an ecumenical religious service in the cavernous main chapel of the majestic, Gothic-style Riverside Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The church, which is interdenominational, has long been involved in political causes, among them the anti-apartheid campaign.

Clerics and laymen of all creeds and colors presided over the service, which turned quickly into a festive musical gala. Song and sounds came from a broad spectrum: Riverside’s own racially integrated choir, African drummers, a black gospel choir, a brass quartet, a female Jewish cantor, a black opera star and the African National Congress’ own Sechaba Singers.

And, in a festive moment after Mandela’s remarks and after the unofficial ANC anthem, “God Bless Africa,” was sung in Zulu, South African exiles filled the aisles, dancing the high-stepping toyi-toyi of black resistance as a beaming Mandela rocked and danced a few steps to the music of the Sechaba Singers. Others filled the air with whistles, applause and piercing wails.

Mandela thanked the religious community for its unflagging support of the anti-apartheid movement--since long before it became a fashionable cause.

“During the long years when we were in prison, you did not forget, neither did you abandon our struggling people,” Mandela told the clerics, who represented faiths from Catholicism to Greek Orthodox to Judaism. “You took up the mission of promoting justice and peace and helped the people’s fight against the evil of apartheid. We salute you . . . .

“When our cause was not a popular cause in the corridors of power in Western nations, it was religious communities, college and university campuses and anti-apartheid organizations in the United States and elsewhere that stood firm in economic sanctions.

“We are now closer to this goal (of ending apartheid) than at any time in our history. Our victory will be your victory.”

But Mandela warned that South African President Frederik W. de Klerk’s rapid, broad reforms have fallen short of the changes necessary to end apartheid.

“To lift sanctions now, before we have seen profound and irreversible change in apartheid, would be a serious political error,” Mandela said. “It would plunge us back into the darkness from which our country is painfully struggling to emerge.”

Among the religious leaders who prayed or preached, the Rev. Jesse Jackson evoked the Bible in calling for an end to apartheid.

“Touch the hard hearts of the Pharaohs of South Africa and America to let thy people go,” Jackson prayed to a congregation that numbered closed to 2,000. “As dramatically as the Red Sea opened, as dramatically as the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, the walls of Berlin came tumbling down, let the walls of apartheid come tumbling down.”

Jackson also asked for forgiveness for the CIA’s alleged involvement in the jailing of Mandela 27 years ago.

“We approach you with a sense of shame,” Jackson prayed. “The CIA of our government joined with South Africa to arrest our brothers and expose them to the beast. Please forgive us the sins of our government.”

Jackson drew hearty applause and shouts of “Amen!” at the end of his prayer.

Dinkins, in his welcoming speech, called Mandela a “magnificent example of commitment, conviction and courage” who continues to suffer a system that denies blacks full political and social freedom.

“So we know that, despite the hope of progress and the signs of change, South Africa remains an evil empire of discrimination, deprivation and oppression based on race,” Dinkins said. “Just because the regime is having talks to reform that country does not yet mean they are committed to a free South Africa, and it certainly does not mean that we should relax our pressure on (the South African) government . . . .”

Throughout the service, Mandela and the other speakers were frequently interrupted by enthusiastic applause and cheers from a crowd that held the ANC leader as a new messiah.

“I admire a man who spent 27 years in jail and was unable to be broken down or beaten down,” said Ruben Colon, 67, pastor of the largely Puerto Rican Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx. “I think the same thing happened to Jesus when he came to the cross. They tried to beat him down. But he was resurrected. And so was Mandela. Now he’s bringing the gospel of the new South Africa everywhere he goes.”

For Sandra Jackson, a 41-year-old publicist from Queens, Mandela’s visit was “icing on the cake” after the joy of his release from jail.

“I’ve been in New York all my life--born and raised here--and never have I experienced anything like it,” Jackson said.

“He came at a good time, a time when New York was undergoing a lot of racial turmoil. But there is a lot of healing taking place, and Mandela’s coming here is a good sign. It will help New York continue to come together.”

Barbara Duncan, 45, an accountant and native New Yorker, said she got a special lift when Mandela declared that the “new South Africa” would be a “non-racist, non-sexist democracy.” As a black female, she explained, she has had to fight racism and sexism constantly in her life, and she was inspired to hear Mandela commit himself to the elimination of these twin prejudices as part of his program for reform in South Africa.

Staff writers Edwin Chen, John J. Goldman, Don Shannon, David Treadwell and Karen Tumulty contributed to this story.

HIGHLIGHTS OF TODAY’S SCHEDULE Eastern Daylight Time

7:50 a.m.: Arrives at One World Trade Center for private meetings with business leaders. 10:00 a.m.: Arrives at United Nations for meeting with Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. 11:00 a.m.: Address at United Nations. 12:30 p.m.: News conference at United Nations, followed by private luncheon. 3:00 p.m. : Winnie Mandela attends women’s leadership symposium at House of the Lord Church, Brooklyn. 4:00 p.m. : Nelson Mandela arrives at Council on Foreign Relations for taping of MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour. 4:25 p.m. : Winnie Mandela attends community tribute at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Actress Cicely Tyson is host. 5:30 p.m. : Nelson Mandela addresses gathering of anti-apartheid activists at the Community Church. Evening. : Private receptions. Stays overnight at Gracie Mansion.