Desmond Tutu calls Leonard Peltier Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu talks to Leonard Peltier by phone and makes a statement of support to media. Desmond Tutu called Leonard while he was in Lawrence to make a speech. Here are two news reports. The Kansas City Star is not correct, he called and did not visit Leonard. In the afternoon, Tutu spoke by telephone with Leonard Peltier, who is incarcerated at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Leavenworth. Peltier is serving two life terms resulting from a 1975 shootout in which two FBI agents were killed. Tutu called his imprisonment a "blot on the judicial system" in the United States. "I would hope that his campaign -- the campaign to have him freed -- will succeed." From The Journal World Lawrence, Kansas. While in Lawrence, Tutu met with pen pal Rachel Sixta, a fourth-grader from Prairie Village. He also went to Leavenworth, where he visited imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier. the Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO LPDC Note: Tutu called and did not visit Leonard Peltier Complete text of both stories Nobel prize winner seeks peace during KU lecture Updated 12:23:28 AM Monday, April 19, 1999 By Tim Carpenter Journal-World Writer Archbishop Desmond Tutu's personal victory over apartheid five years ago was marked by the simple act of putting pencil to paper in a voting booth. Tutu -- who had won a Nobel Peace Prize a decade earlier for his peaceful campaign against South Africa's policy of racial division -- waited 63 years to do what most Americans take for granted. Nelson Mandela, the other titan in the drive for emancipation, waited 76 years to vote. "It was a miracle unfolding before our eyes," Tutu told about 4,000 people Sunday night during the KU Student Lecture Series at Allen Fieldhouse. He said people in the United States who raised their voice against apartheid, including student activists at KU, furnished international pressure that helped loosen shackles keeping freedom out of reach for black South Africans. "I speak on behalf of millions, thank you ... for the support you gave us," the archbishop said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. For our victory, in a very real sense, is your victory." Tutu, wearing a dark suit and customary wire-rimmed glasses, was given a standing ovation when he stepped on the stage and when he departed. The visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta focused his remarks on respect for diversity and commitment to peaceful coexistence. "I hope we affirm diversity and celebrate our differences," he said. In a news conference before the speech, Tutu said wealthy Western nations, including the United States, came to the aid of countries with majority white populations more readily than countries mostly populated by blacks. "There is no question, in our perception, it is still the case that one white person's life is worth any number of black person's lives," Tutu said. He said all humans deserved to be valued equally. "Compassion and caring should not be determined by the color of a person's skin." Tutu said a complete life required people to embrace folks unlike themselves -- different age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, language. "We need other human beings to become human ourselves," Tutu said. "On our own, we are impoverished." He said people regrettably worked the hardest to find simple answers when challenged by complex times. This quest for easy solutions often has led to tragedy. The approach produced ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, genocide in Africa and the Holocaust in Europe, he said. "I would hope you have zero tolerance for intolerance. The mature person is the one who makes room for diverse points of view. The mature person is not frightened by diverse points of view." In regard to war in Kosovo, Tutu said there would be no lasting peace until Serbs and Albanians had an honest dialogue about the past and future. Compassion must rule conduct when the bombing and shooting stops. All villains -- regardless of how ghastly their crimes -- deserve sympathy as children of God, he said. "There is always a possibility that a person can change. You don't give up." In the afternoon, Tutu spoke by telephone with Leonard Peltier, who is incarcerated at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Leavenworth. Peltier is serving two life terms resulting from a 1975 shootout in which two FBI agents were killed. Tutu called his imprisonment a "blot on the judicial system" in the United States. "I would hope that his campaign -- the campaign to have him freed -- will succeed." Tutu said the United States should create a national dialogue similar to that produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated apartheid-era human rights abuses in South Africa and was led by the archbishop. His commission reopened old wounds, tried to clean nagging sores and began the healing process. "The Native American bears a pain in the pit of their tummy," Tutu said. "So do Africans." Until Americans openly confront the underlying disease of injustice, he said, the country will continue to be a place where a black man in Texas can be dragged to death behind a pickup and a homosexual college student in Wyoming can be beaten, tied to a fence and left to die. "That is the chasm," he said. Tutu met before his talk with Rachel Sixta, a fourth-grade student from Prairie Village who had become a pen pal with the archbishop. Tutu signed Rachel's Bible and the 10-year-old girl gave him a bound journal. The two embraced and chatted briefly. Tutu said individuals -- Sixta, for example, who wants to become a nurse -- have more power to change the world than they realize. "A small movement starts an avalanche. The sea is made up of drops of water. If you have coalitions, you can determine what agendas we follow." Tim Carpenter's phone message number is 832-7155. His e-mail address is tcarpenter@ljworld.com. *** Tutu calls for tolerance in Lawrence address By SHAWNA A. HAMEL - The Kansas City Star Todd Feeback/The Star Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu hugged 10-year-old Rachel Sixta, of Prairie Village, before his lecture Sunday in Lawrence. LAWRENCE -- South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sunday urged a crowd of about 5,000 to promote the differences between people, rather than squelch them. "By dehumanizing and devaluing others, you are dehumanized and devalued yourself in that process," Tutu said. Tutu spoke at the University of Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse as part of the 1999 KU Student Lecture Series. His topic was "Bridging the Chasm Between Black and White." "It's so easy to hate each other because we're different, but by being better individuals, maybe we can learn that the differences are not there only to separate us," said Tutu, who now lives in Atlanta and teaches at Emory University. Tutu referred to two recent victims of racism and homophobia: a black man in Texas who died from being dragged by a pickup truck and a gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten and tied to a fence, left to die. "Isn't it sad to think that we can have someone dragged to death behind a pickup because that person is different? Or beaten and tied to a fence because that person is different? And it can happen here, of all places. What a sad symptom of a deeper-lying disease," Tutu said. Looking out among the audience, Tutu smiled at white, black and yellow faces and praised the United States for its progress in helping end apartheid in his native country. Tutu asked the audience to work toward changes, no matter how small and ineffective those changes might seem. "Remember, simply, that the sea is only made up of drops of water that come together, and in that, lies power," he said. "I hope all of you will be allergic to simplistic answers from now on, because they are forever inadequate for explaining complex issues. And change -- progress toward the acceptance of diversity -- is one of those issues." Tutu was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for the fight against apartheid in his homeland. In December 1995, Tutu was appointed to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated human-rights violations in the apartheid era. He was named Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town in July 1996, shortly after retirement the month before. Tutu's message was one of unconditional love, hope and acceptance. "How ridiculous of us it is, even here in such a generous country as this, that the worth of a person is found in a biological attribute," he said. "And not only is it ridiculous, it is immoral. Every biological attribute comes with a package, and because of it, it has intrinsic worth because it comes with being human. And it's a universal phenomenon." To quell racial tensions and become a more peaceful society, Tutu said, people must make themselves more tolerant and forgiving individuals -- unshackled by racism and prejudice. "And more than anything, it is so important for us to keep remembering that however ghastly anybody might be, that person is still a child of God," he said. Tutu touched on parallels between the apartheid movement in South Africa and racial and ethnic divisions in the United States. "One of the troubles in this country is that people are constantly making out that we are impotent, that we are weak," Tutu said. "Politicians are forever taking the pulse of people, and really it's us who have the power to dictate what goes on or not. The so-called ordinary people can and do drive the agenda in this country. And what we can do is hope we all understand that a threat to peace in the world anywhere becomes a threat to peace in the world everywhere." Individuals can diminish the racial divide by embracing the knowledge that black lives are as valuable as white lives. "Until then, I'm afraid we're just going to continue being surprised at the bitterness there is in the hearts of many African-Americans," Tutu said. While in Lawrence, Tutu met with pen pal Rachel Sixta, a fourth-grader from Prairie Village. He also went to Leavenworth, where he visited imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier. Sixta and Tutu met for about 15 minutes. When Tutu asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up, she said a neonatal nurse. She asked him what he wanted to be as a boy. His answer: a physician. Tutu also joked with her about boys. She said she liked about half the boys in her class, quickly adding: "But you're nice." To reach Shawna A. Hamel, call (816) 234-5909 or send e-mail to shamel@kcstar.com All content c 1999 The Kansas City Star =================================== Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 To subscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-on@mail-list.com > To unsubscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-off@mail-list.com > To change your email address, send a message to < lpdc-change@mail-list.com with your old address in the Subject line ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-04.24.99-11:24:35-29364