African Activist Archive

Letter from Janice L. Carroll of the Milwaukee Committee on Southern Africa to Hal C. Kuehl at First Wisconsin Corporation. The letter points out that Rev. Michael Crosby of the Justice and Peace Center has received no reply from the loan department to his letter of September 28, 1977 concerning loans to South Africa by First Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Common Council has declared its opposition to South Africa's policy of apartheid and to the sale of the South African gold coin, the Krugerrand. The last two Milwaukee banks selling the Krugerrand have stopped their sales, and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents recently voted to end UW investments in companies doing business in South Africa. Nationally, Polaroid Corporation has announced an end to sales of its products in South Africa, and several banks have announced their intentions to make no loans to South Africa until a positive change has occurred. The January 1978 report of the Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs states that, in 1975, First Wisconsin National Bank made a $30 million loan to a South African corporation for the purchase of earth moving and construction equipment. The letter asks whether this loan has been repaid or has been extended. It also asks whether First Wisconsin has made any other loans to: 1) the government of South Africa, 2) its public agencies, 3) private corporations for the purpose of investment in South Africa, or 4) the governments or public corporations of Rhodesia and Namibia (South West Africa). In view of the appalling disregard for majority rights in South Africa, First Wisconsin Bank should pledge to make no further loans of the types described above until the Organization of African Unity (OAU) has recognized the South African government as a democratic and representative government. The letter acknowledges that this request presents First Wisconsin, as a profit making institution, with a dilemma; yet, it calls on the company to decide in favor of helping to make Milwaukee an "apartheid free" city.

African Activist Archive

[Dear Mr. Kuehl: On September 28, 1977 Reverend Michael Crosby of the Justice and Peace Center …]

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