UN HONORS MANDELA
By Black Radio Network Staff
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK – Prior to the opening of the annual gathering of the UN General Assembly the world organization took time to honor an historic Black leader.
A statue of Nelson Mandela, who led South Africa’s transition from the apartheid system of white minority rule over the majority black population, was unveiled at UN headquarters in New York, and delegates addressed a “peace summit” to elevate his memory in this year’s centennial of his birth.
“Few people in the history of our world have left such an incredible mark on humanity,” U.N. General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces said at the dedication ceremony of the life-sized sculpture of the prisoner-turned-president.
Shortly afterward, President Donald Trump arrived in the building, making a brief appearance at a separate event on fighting the global scourge of illegal drugs. Some 130 U.N. member states signed a U.S.-sponsored declaration to step up action against the narcotics trade that has left 31 million people around the world requiring treatment and is causing 450,000 deaths every year from overdoses or drug-related health issues.
