African Activist Archive

According to the American Committee on Africa, a growing number of institutions have stopped selling or advertising Krugerrand gold coins from racist South Africa. Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, Inc., the nation's largest brokerage firm, confirmed discontinuing gold coin sales in all its branches as of the end of 1977. The press release says protests by groups opposing sales of the Krugerrand, which bolster the white minority regime in South Africa, took place at Merrill, Lynch branch offices in cities including Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Eugene and Portland, Oregon. The Rev. Stephen Commins of the Parish Church of St. Augustine By-The-Sea described one such demonstration held in Los Angeles during Holy Week on April 6, 1977. In Chicago, three local television stations, WBBM, WMAQ, and WGN have joined the NBC, CBS, and ABC network affiliate stations in New York and Boston in discontinuing Krugerrand advertisements. Department stores have decided to discontinue sales of the coin, including Carson, Pirie, Scott and Co. (in Chicago), Abraham and Straus (in Brooklyn, N.Y.), and May department store (in Cleveland). Continental Bank of Chicago has discontinued sales. Other banks previously stopping sales include black-owned Seaway National Bank of Chicago and the New Jersey National Bank of Princeton, following student-led protests. The Record, a daily newspaper in Northern New Jersey, recently refused $7,000 in Krugerrand advertising. The Portland, Oregon city council adopted a resolution condemning Krugerrand sales and urged citizens not to purchase the coin. City councils in Denver, San Antonio, Dayton and Chicago, as well as the State House of Representatives in Massachusetts, adopted similar resolutions. After being picketed, six coin dealers in Boston, a jewelry store in Oakland, California, and a coin store in Cleveland stopped Krugerrand sales. The Africa Office of the National Council of Churches (NCC) and the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) have protested to sellers and advertisers of the Krugerrand. The press release mentions Paul Irish.

African Activist Archive

[A growing number of institutions are discontinuing sales or advertisements for Krugerrand gold coins from racist South Africa, the American Committee on Africa reports.]

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