Leo Robinson was a longshoreman who became politicised during the Vietnam war. He became involved in the Local 10, the longshoreman's union. He drew parallels between apartheid in South Africa and his own experiences with segregation, discrimination and inequality. He helped to form an anti-apartheid group amongst dockworkers. In 1984, a South African ship called the Nedlloyd Kimberly pulled into San Francisco's Pier 80. Robinson and his dockworkers unloaded most of the ship, but refused to unload the South African cargo as a protest against apartheid. For eleven days, they defied the ship owners. The boycott was ended under threat by a federal injunction. But by then, the anti-apartheid movement in Northern California was born. Hundreds of union and community activists moved to Oakland, where they demonstrated against the Pacfific Maritime Association every day for two years. Soon, no port on the West Coast would unload cargo from South Africa. Cities such as Oakland and San Francisco began divesting from companies with South African operations. The state of California divested more than $11 billion from South Africa. When apartheid fell, Nelson Mandela came to Oakland and thanked Leo Robinson for helping to end apartheid in front of 60,000 people in Oakland Coliseum. --- Source: https://inthesetimes.com/article/leo-robinson-soul-of-the-longshore [[Subtract]]