Presiding Bishop Speaks on South Africa
Diocesan Press Service. June 10, 1971 [94-1]
DETROIT, Mich. -- Speaking here at the May 21 annual stockholders' meeting of General Motors Corporation, the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, said that GM's presence in South Africa is "increasing the strength and control of the racist dictatorship. "
Bishop Hines spoke in support of an Episcopal Church stockholder resolution which asked GM, the nation's largest corporation, to close out its manufacturing operations in South Africa "as expeditiously as possible. "
In order that he might catch a plane to attend a Diocesan meeting, Bishop Hines was allowed to speak earlier than the agenda called for consideration of the Episcopal resolution.
He said that he accepted GM management's opposition to apartheid (racial separation).
"The issue, however," he said, "is whether our corporate presence in the Republic of South Africa does in fact help the black people of that land who constitute 70 per cent of the population, and whether our contribution to South Africa's economy does in fact create a climate in which the desired social changes can take place. "
Bishop Hines is believed to be one of the highest-ranked churchmen ever to address a large corporation's annual meeting.
Also speaking in favor of the Episcopal resolution were Mrs. J. Wilmette Wilson of Savannah, Ga., and George T. Guernsey IE of St. Louis, members of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.
A number of other U.S. churchmen and two blacks from South Africa were on hand to speak in favor of the Episcopal resolution, one of several stockholder proposals reflecting an upsurge of interest in "corporate responsibility" among institutional investors and environmental groups. Those speaking about South Africa were allowed to talk at length.
Horace Gale, treasurer of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, said:
"When our company (GM) contributes to a government that is keeping a large segment of its population in virtual slavery, then we as shareholders with Christian convictions must urge that this arrangement be brought to an orderly end."
Father Casimir Paulsen, a Roman Catholic missionary of the Mariannhill Congregation in South Africa, who was banned from the country last March, described the restrictions and economic pressures placed upon the non-whites during his five years there. He asked, "Is this the progress to which GM and other American corporations in South Africa for many decades have contributed ?"
The dramatic highlight of the day came when GM chairman James M. Roche unexpectedly announced that the Rev. Leon Sullivan, a Philadelphia Baptist pastor and economic developer who is GM's only black director, would speak in favor of the Episcopal resolution.
Mr. Sullivan, in an impassioned speech, said that while he was "encouraged" by his reception by the GM board and by the corporation's efforts to improve opportunities for minorities, "American industry can't morally continue to do business in a country that so blatantly and ruthlessly and clearly maintains such dehumanizing practices against such large numbers of people."
This was the first time that a GM director had ever spoken against management at an annual meeting.
Mr. Roche, speaking for management, opposed GM withdrawal from South Africa as an empty gesture. To withdraw, he said, would cause not only "very substantial economic loss," but also would "do nothing for the standing of non-whites."
The record 6 hour and 56 minute session, presided over by Mr. Roche, was attended by nearly 2,000 persons.
The Episcopal Church's proposal that GM pull out of South Africa, though defeated, received nearly 3 million, or 1.29 per cent, of the 229.5 million shares voted. The Episcopal Church was voting 12,574 shares.