Item 0684 - Nelson Mandela Day in the City of Berkeley

Cream coloured certificates housed in blue folder. Certificates are held in place by gold fabric triangles at each corner. Top of first certificate has a vine and flower design near the upper left corner. Certificate text, in blue and black, reads:
City of Berkeley
Proclamation
Loni Hancock
Mayor
In celebration of the release of Nelson Mandela
Whereas, as members of a multi-cultural multi-racial city, Berkeley residents believe that any victory against racism and injustice anywhere in the world is a victory to all people; and
Whereas, the people of Berkeley have joined the rest of the world in calling for an end to the racist system of apartheid in South Africa; and
Whereas, the determined opposition to apartheid by the South African majority and the economic, political, and cultural pressure imposed by the international community has forced concessions from the minority government; and
Whereas, one of those victories was the long awaited release of Nelson Mandela, a leader of the African National Congress, and internationally acknowledged symbol of the strength, determination, and resolve of the South African people; and
Whereas, while we celebrate each victory resulting from the intense, decades-long struggle against apartheid, we recognize that they are onlyt benchmarks toward the creation of a free, democratic, non-racial society in South Africa; and
Whereas, Mr Mandela has been released from one prison into a larger onein which he and other black people still do not have freedom of movement, the right to vote, wages equal to those of their white counterparts, or freedom of political expression.
(page 2)
Now, therefore, be it resolved, that I, Loni Hancock, Mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby recognize the victory achieved in the release of Mr Nelson Mandela and declare March 11, 1990
Nelson Mandela Day
in the city of Berkeley, and ask all Berkeley citizens to join in the celebration of Mr Mandela's release.
Signed by: Loni Hancock, Mayor