The press release describes action marking Soweto Days, June 16-17, including an event with more than 3,000 Christians in Washington, D.C. and thousands of other people who voiced opposition to South African apartheid with marches, rallies, prayer vigils and other events in their own communities. The days marked the conclusion of the month-long "From Pentecost to Soweto" campaign by U.S. churches to draw renewed attention to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The campaign opened with worship services and prayer vigils on May 14, the day celebrated as Pentecost by western churches. It concluded with a national worship service, march and rally led by the Rev. Allan Boesak, president...
The press release describes action marking Soweto Days, June 16-17, including an event with more than 3,000 Christians in Washington, D.C. and thousands of other people who voiced opposition to South African apartheid with marches, rallies, prayer vigils and other events in their own communities. The days marked the conclusion of the month-long "From Pentecost to Soweto" campaign by U.S. churches to draw renewed attention to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The campaign opened with worship services and prayer vigils on May 14, the day celebrated as Pentecost by western churches. It concluded with a national worship service, march and rally led by the Rev. Allan Boesak, president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, in Washington, D.C. The observances focused on educating people about the system of racial discrimination in South Africa and on showing support for the people and churches there. New York City groups picketed in front of Senator Alphonse D'Amato's office in Manhattan and then marched to the Mobil Oil headquarters on 42nd Street for a large cultural rally; four persons were arrested as they attempted to meet with the senator's staff to advocate for comprehensive sanctions. The press release quotes Diana Scott of the United Church of Christ (UCC). It also mentions The Riverside Church in New York, a 14-day vigil of prayer and fasting, Sophie Mazibuko, a sister-city relationship to the South African Black village Thornhill, Pat Cameron, the Interfaith Ministries of Wichita (Kansas), the Wichita City Council, Chicago's Little Flower Church, the Muntu Dance Theater, Cleveland, a rally in Cincinnati, Father McGlory Speckman, Shell credit cards, Shell Oil, United Church of Christ in Tallahassee, a fast, a vigil, Soweto Day Walkathon in Chicago, Ruth Bedell, Church World Service, funds for legal aid and medical assistance for detainees and their families, a human chain around the Iowa state capitol building in Des Moines, Black South Africans killed or detained in the struggle against apartheid, the play "Bricks: A Glimpse of Apartheid," an ecumenical worship service, the Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, demonstrations, meetings with corporate executives and other activities in Seattle to urge the Boeing Corporation to reconsider its decision to sell two 747 jets to the South African government, the Church on the Green, New Haven, Nashville, an informational picket at a Shell station, a boycott of Royal Dutch Oil/Shell, Houston, human rights violations, the death penalty, Amnesty International, church and community groups, Dallas, detentions, assassinations, and Duke University.
