January 10, 1996 Contact: Jim Burns (408/459-2495)

FIRST BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. WILL DELIVER ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., LECTURE AT UC SANTA CRUZ ON JANUARY 25

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA---Franklin A. Sonn, the first black South African ambassador to the United States, will deliver the keynote address at the twelfth annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Convocation this month at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

This year's convocation is scheduled for Thursday, January 25. It begins at 4 p.m. in UCSC's Performing Arts Theater. Admission is free, but tickets (see below) are required from the UCSC Ticket Office.

Open to the general public, the convocation honors the memory of Dr. King with music and a keynote address by a prominent figure. Ambassador Sonn's speech will focus on South Africa's historic journey toward civil rights, affirmative action, and the country's post-apartheid government.

In an interview published in the December issue of Ebony magazine, the 56-year-old diplomat described the dramatic changes occurring in his country. "It's not black against white," Sonn said. "It's all about people who share the gospel of the oneness of people. We, as a nonracial society, say that we understand that there are differences and we accept the differences. But our main focus is unity--to become one. We have a vision of a nation where skin color won't matter anymore and we will all bond together in a common natural South Africa."

An educator by profession, Sonn served as rector (president) of Cape Town's 8,000-student Peninsula Technikon, a tertiary educational institution for "coloured" students, from 1978 to 1994. As rector, Sonn was not a member of the Mandela-led African National Congress. "Because the ANC was banned, the movement in exile felt that we should never join because that safeguarded us," Sonn said.

But to support the organization's cause, Sonn traveled from township to township to persuade teachers to accept the ANC's Freedom Charter.

Selected by President Nelson Mandela for the role of ambassador to the U.S., Sonn says the position provides him with the opportunity to "try to bring the message to the world of South Africa's project of nonracialism, of removing the color line. It's our mission. Our gospel. The challenge is to build that. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are lying there on the table, and the challenge is to put them into one picture."

On January 25, the Santa Cruz Gospel Ensemble Choir will open and close the convocation. A reception will follow at a location to be announced.

The convocation will also be broadcast live in two overflow- seating venues--the Performing Arts Concert Hall and Kresge Town Hall--and on campus cable channel 10.

The annual event is presented by UCSC Arts & Lectures in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Parking is free in the Performing Arts parking lot. For ticket information or disability-access information, call the UCSC Ticket Office at (408) 459-2159.

(Tickets will be available from the UCSC Ticket Office beginning at 10 a.m. on January 13. There is a two-ticket-per-person limit.)

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