    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [October 5, 1994]
    [Pages 1698-1699]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Congressional Black Caucus Luncheon for President
    Nelson Mandela of South Africa
    October 5, 1994

        Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. President, Members of
    Congress, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the White House. Welcome to
    this occasion marking what Martin Luther King once called ``a joyous
    daybreak to end the long night of captivity.''
        Most of you in this room, through your prayers and your actions,
    helped to keep freedom's flame lit during the dark night of apartheid in
    South Africa. Now here we are: South Africa is free; Nelson Mandela is
    President. Some dreams really do come true.
        We are also here because of our own ongoing struggle against racism
    and intolerance and division. Over the years South Africans and
    Americans have shared ideas and drawn strength from one another. The
    NAACP was founded just a few months before the African National
    Congress, and close bonds were forged between two of the greatest
    leaders our two countries have produced, Nobel Prize winners Albert
    Luthuli and Dr. King.
        Over the years Americans raised a powerful, unified voice for
    justice and change in South Africa that would not go unheard. A diverse
    coalition spread the word: churches, universities, human rights
    organizations; ultimately, banks, businesses, cities, and State
    governments. The tools they wielded, cultural and economic sanctions,
    divestment, international isolation, ultimately helped to force the
    apartheid regime to end more than four decades of repression.
        At the center of this movement stood the Congressional Black Caucus.
    The caucus helped to raise the consciousness of all Americans to the
    terrible injustice of apartheid, and it consistently acted upon a deep-
    rooted commitment to South Africa's freedom. Representative Ron Dellums
    introduced the first antiapartheid legislation in 1972, the year the CBC
    was founded. It took 14 more years, the unbending will of the CBC, and
    ultimately the willingness of Congress to override a veto. But you
    persevered, you prevailed. And today we can say, South Africa's triumph
    is your triumph, too. And we thank you.
        Now that freedom and democracy have won, they must be nurtured. And
    that is the ultimate purpose of President Mandela's visit to us in the
    United States. Working with Congress and the private sector, our
    administration is helping to promote trade with and investment in South
    Africa, not only for the good of South Africans but in our own interests
    as well. The private sector, which made its weight felt in the fight
    against apartheid, must now lead the effort to build a prosperous South
    Africa. This is not, I say again, about charity. It's about opportunity,
    opportunity for South Africans, opportunity for Americans.
        We must also help South Africa to create jobs, housing, and schools;
    to improve health care; to fight illiteracy and poverty. These are
    challenges with which the new South Africa must contend, now and
    vigorously. And rising to meet them, South Africa will become a model
    for all of Africa.
        Let me add that our concern must not end with South Africa. For all
    its problems, Africa is a continent of tremendous promise and progress.
    I reject the Afro-pessimism, as it's been called, that is often
    expressed around this city. That's why we'll provide some $3 billion to
    Africa this year, directly and through international organizations, for
    economic assistance and humanitarian relief; why we've had the first-
    ever conference on Africa recently that many of you have participated
    in; why we're working through sustainable development and debt relief,
    through peacekeeping and conflict resolution, through diplomacy and
    military conversion, to take advantage of the opportunities for
    democracy and development on the African Continent.

    [[Page 1699]]

        We owe our new partnership with South Africa to the man I have been
    privileged to host in Washington this week. President Mandela, by the
    simple justice of your cause and the powerful force of your example, you
    have inspired millions of Americans and millions more throughout the
    world. We are in your debt, not only for what you have done for South
    Africa but for what you have done for us, for what you have made us
    believe again about what we might become and what we might do here at
    home.
        Let me close with the words of the poet Jennifer Davis, which she
    wrote in tribute to Albert Luthuli. They apply equally well to you:
    ``Bounded, you gave us knowledge of freedom; silenced, you taught us how
    to speak.''
        President Mandela.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:46 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the
    White House.