My name is Randall Robinson. I am the Executive Director of TransAfrica.

On September 25, 1976, the Congressional Black Caucus convened The Black Leadership Conference on Africa. The conference, comprising the leadership of virtually every national black civil rights and social organization, accomplished two noteworthy objectives. It authored the African-American Manifesto on Southern Africa which expressed grave concerns with the previous Administration’s negotiation initiatives for a Zimbabwe settlement. Secondly, it mandated a task force, chaired by me, to propose and execute an institutional vehicle through which black Americans could express to the Congress and the Administration their views on United States foreign policy vis-a-vis Africa and the Caribbean.