[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 60 (Friday, May 4, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE PASSING OF REVEREND LEON SULLIVAN, AUTHOR OF THE SULLIVAN 
                               PRINCIPLES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 3, 2001

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pay a special tribute to the 
passing of one of America's greatest crusaders for civil rights and 
human rights both here at home and around the world, the Reverend Leon 
Sullivan. He left a rich legacy of activity and awareness, each new 
endeavor serving his vision of racial harmony and understanding, and he 
will be remembered for his crucial role in the right against Apartheid 
in South Africa.
  As a Philadelphia minister with the Zion Baptist Church in the early 
1960's, Rev. Sullivan organized a nonviolent boycott of local companies 
that would not hire blacks. The boycotts proved to be highly effective, 
but in order to bring about a genuine turn-around in the employment 
situation for black residents of Philadelphia he knew that many people 
would need professional training opportunities. In 1965, Rev. Sullivan 
attempted to address this training need through the creation of 
Opportunities International, a job-training program that has trained to 
date 1.5 million people in 142 centers worldwide.
  Rev. Sullivan not only tackled tough problems, he also broke new 
ground in generating presence and visibility for the civil rights 
movement. He became the first black board member of General Motors 
Corp. in 1971--``the conscience of the board'' according to then-
secretary to the GM board Rod Gilleum. Rev. Sullivan used his influence 
in this elite corporate environment to promote what would become his 
most famous civil rights manifesto: the Sullivan Principles.
  The Sullivan Principles were designed to guide U.S. corporate 
behavior in apartheid South Africa. He described these principles as 
``a code that companies of America and the world came to follow to end 
apartheid peacefully, starting with the workplace.`` In explaining how 
one must go about reforming a system as entrenched as apartheid was in 
South Africa, he once noted that ``if you take a hammer and chisel and 
pound a rock 100 times, it's going to crack. I pounded and pounded, and 
it cracked.''
  After retiring from Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Rev. 
Sullivan then created the International Foundation for Education and 
Self-Help. This foundation aided hundreds of thousands of people in 
Africa and the United States.
  Rev. Sullivan's lifetime of service and achievement fortunately did 
not pass unrecognized. In 1992, then-President Bush recognized Rev. 
Sullivan's contribution to the promotion of civil rights with the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1999, following the release of an 
updated version of the Sullivan Principles, United Nations Secretary-
General Kofi Annan said of Rev. Sullivan, ``He showed us all how much 
one individual can do.'' Rev. Sullivan's principles will live on to 
encourage corporations around the world to engage in fair employment 
practices.
  Together with his wife Grace, his three children Hope, Julie, and 
Howard, and to the countless lives he touched and minds he opened, this 
Congress stands today in admiration and in gratitude of this 
extraordinary man and his very good works. Thank you, Rev. Sullivan, 
and may each of us learn from your example.

                          ____________________