King Day organizer lauds South African progress

Todd Bernstein says this week's Pennsylvania Primary is a grim contrast to South Africa's third free election

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

For Todd Bernstein, May 10, 1994 was a day of mixed emotions.

Bernstein, then a Chestnut Hill resident, had just returned from South Africa where he was one of 175 Americans serving as international election observers in that country's first democratic election since the end of apartheid rule.

A Democratic committeeman, Bernstein watched as voters in that year's Pennsylvania primary were discouraged from voting because of the perceived long lines at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

As Northwest voters shirked their civic duty that day, South Africans celebrated the inauguration of their first black president, Nelson Mandela.

"It was a sad contrast," Bernstein said. "I watched some South Africans wait in line up to 10 hours to vote with a spirit of reverence," he said. "Here, voters turned away from a line of 15 people."

That sad contrast presented itself again this week as Pennsylvania voters went to the polls April 27, the date of South Africa's first free election, marking 10 years of democratic rule.

And Bernstein, president of the Citizenship Project, an organization that promotes volunteer service and civic engagement, has again returned from South Africa. He's taken the trip for each of the country's three elections.

Though all this year's election observers were from Africa, Bernstein decided to visit anyway to gauge progress in the decade-old democracy.

"They've come such a distance that they've removed the instability that mandated observers in 1994," he said.

Bernstein met with members of the African National Congress — South Africa's ruling party — the Independent Election Commission, several relief organizations and people from all walks of life to witness firsthand how life since apartheid has changed.

"I think there's a feeling among South Africans that there is now opportunity where there was none," he said. Bernstein noted a conviction among first-time voters, many of whom were well informed and articulate, despite soaring unemployment and poverty rates.

Bernstein was struck by South African blacks' "remarkable level of forgiveness" in light of hundreds of years of legal segregation.

"I always search for words to describe their acceptance [of whites], but it's more of an emotional reaction," he said.

Although many of Mandela's promises have been honored, much work remains, specifically HIV education and AIDS treatment, Bernstein said, but added that South Africa's National Youth Committee is filling a void in that area. The committee has aided clinics by providing much-needed medication, which the government has been slow to produce. The group also trains young people through service programs that require a one-year commitment, which later translates to employment.

He also observed a "huge interest" among South Africans in the U.S. general election this November. On his daily morning runs, Bernstein listened to the Johannesburg talk-radio report on the United States' economy.

South African economic stability, Bernstein said, is tied to America's economy.

But most took issue with U.S. foreign policy and the war in Iraq.

"Everyone is befuddled by our country's post-9/11 approach," Bernstein said. "We struck back in Afghanistan, but then redirected our focus on Iraq. South Africans are opposed to that. This war doesn't help our standing around the world," he added.

Bernstein, 46, has a 25-year passion for South Africa.

The former student organizer helped found the Florida Coalition for a Free South Africa in the early 1980s. He currently sits on the board of the United States-South Africa Leadership Program.

"There must be something in my DNA from growing up in a diverse community like Mt. Airy, attending a Quaker school and being raised as a Jew with a strong family tradition," Bernstein says of his personal investment in volunteerism and civic engagement.

Before founding the Citizenship Project, Bernstein had established his own history of civic engagement. He was press secretary to then-Mayor W. Wilson Goode and executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Later, Bernstein was executive assistant to Harris Wofford, then-Secretary of Labor and Industry in the Casey administration. When Wofford was appointed to the U. S. Senate to replace the late John Heinz, Bernstein followed as the new senator's state office director.

When Wofford lost the Pennsylvania seat to Rick Santorum in 1994, Bernstein says he devoted his resources to fully realizing the King Day of Service, which at that time only existed in name, not action.

Lesson for Americans

Bernstein says South Africa offers a lesson in citizenship for Americans who have taken for granted their hard-fought right to vote.

"We've got to wake up," Bernstein said. "Unless we are actively participating, our democracy is weakened."

"We get excited about a 50 percent turnout," he said. "That's unacceptable. Voting is not just a nice thing. It's a responsibility."

More than 76 percent of South Africa's 20.6 million registered voters cast ballots in this year's election. In 1999, turnout was 89 percent.

For now, Bernstein will continue to promote civic engagement through his Citizenship Project. "Volunteer service is a way of bringing people together. It builds bridges of better understanding and shows there's more that unites us than divides us," he said.

Bernstein demonstrates his point annually with the national Martin Luther King Day of Service, which he helped to found in 1994 and has organized since 1996. The Greater Philadelphia event, the largest of its kind in the nation, started with 1,000 volunteers during the city's 30-inch-plus blizzard eight years ago and has blossomed to 40,000 volunteers working on 600 service projects throughout a seven-county region.

"We're embracing King's legacy by turning community concerns into civic action," he said.