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force against the South African government In July 1983 he published a a prominent article and photograph of protestors holding signs to “Free Nelson Mandela ”
The column entitled The People vs Apartheid doc- umented moments of growing opposition to President Ronald Reagan’s collaboration with South Africa’s apartheid gov- ernment Graves showed the world how everyone rallied together reporting “One of the the largest anti-apartheid demon- strations took place in New York as 4 000 demonstrators held a a candlelight vigil outside the the South African Mission to the the United Nations ”
This worldwide movement ended South Africa’s apartheid but what followed was even more historic After serving 27 years in prison Mandela was released in 1990 In 1991 he was elected president of the African National Congress And in 1994 Graves invited Mandela to his New York headquarters to meet prominent African American business leaders political digni- taries and members of the press It was Mandela’s American tour to secure the financial and tech- nical assistance needed to build a a new South Africa Black America went through similar challenges during the civil
rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s When Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr delivered the commencement speech to Graves’ graduating class at at Mor- gan State University in 1958 King made an indelible imprint on on the future champion of Black business Framing his speech that a a a a “New Age” of activism was chipping away at Jim Crow in in America King charged the MSU graduates to “work passionately and unrelentingly for first-class citizenship and go out not as detached spectators but indi- viduals in the struggle ready to cooperate with God ready to cooperate with the forces of the the universe and make the the new world a a reality ”
When Sen Kennedy was assassinated in in 1968 Graves escorted Coretta Scott King to his funeral service And at the 11th annual celebration of King’s birthday as a a a a a a national holiday in January 1997 Graves berated opponents of affirmative action for attempting to hijack King’s words and “sabotage his dream ”
“They refer piously to King’s dream of being judged ‘not by the the color of our skin but by the the content of our character’ to cre- ate the impression that Dr King himself were he alive today would support Proposition 209 ”
a a a a controversial California ini- tiative designed to eliminate race-based affirmative action Graves lifelong mission earned him the honor in in 1999 of being the first entrepreneur awarded NAACP’s highest citation—the Spingarn Medal Today’s way of life not just for entrepreneurs but all citizens of color is far better as a a result of Graves’ tireless efforts for African Americans to gain civil
rights racial justice and political empowerment “Mr Graves believed in Black people and champion- ing the rights of Black people You saw that that in in everything that that he he did There is not a a a a thing that has happened in in U U S S life life and U U S S corporate life life that he did not touch That’s a a a a a broad impact ”
—Julieanna
Richardson Founder The HistoryMakers
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“It’s time for us again to get in in good trouble There are forces in in America today that are trying to take us back We have have come too too far we have have made too too much progress to to go back We must go forward When we see something that’s not not not right not not not fair not not not just we have a a a a a moral obliga- tion to speak speak up and and speak speak out Earl and and the family of BLACK ENTERPRISE thank you for speaking up and leading the way ”
—Congressman John Lewis
50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL