On December 5th, the world lost a true leader with Nelson Mandela's passing.  In 1990, I was among the thousands of people at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Charles River Esplanade near downtown Boston who waited hours for Nelson Mandela to speak to us.  He was visiting Boston shortly after being released from serving 27 years in prison in South Africa.  I remember it as if it were yesterday.  His joy, vitality, gentleness, wisdom and sheer strength of character was evident the moment he came on stage. 

After he was released from prison, Mr. Mandela sat down with his oppressors and transformed South Africa.  He did not want to replace white domination with black domination.  His successful negotiations culminated with him being the first democratically elected president of a new multi-racial democracy.  Surely much remains to be done in South Africa but Nelson Mandela made it possible for South Africa to have a future.

As we close out 2013, take a moment to appreciate Mr. Mandela's accomplishments in South Africa and the effect he had across the globe.  This is also a good time to pledge that in 2014 you will redouble your personal efforts to make racial equity more attainable here at home.

In this issue, you will enjoy reading about our successful Student Leadership Forum.  There were 132 students coming from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds at the forum and they all had great things to say about their experience.  In addition, we bring you updates on recent fair housing cases on Long Island. 

I hope you end 2013 on a joyous note and I wish you well for the New Year. 

Elaine Gross

President