President/CEO Blair Taylor and Urban League Delegation Leave on Beijing Mission

National Urban League and Los Angeles Urban League Host African-American Leaders on Historic Trade & Cultural Mission to China

While sight-seeing and experiencing Chinese culture are indeed part of its weeklong itinerary, an Urban League delegation to the People’s Republic of China will be focused on business, education and urban renewal during a historic cultural and trade mission to Beijing.

The delegation, led by National Urban League President & CEO Marc Morial and Los Angeles Urban League President & CEO Blair Taylor, is composed of prominent African-American leaders from around the country in business, education, civil engagement and government. They will have an unprecedented opportunity to engage with influential Chinese business and community leaders.  

The private mission is the first national African-American delegation to China. The group is being hosted by the China-United States Exchange Foundation. In addition to Morial, Taylor and other key Urban League officials, delegates include: former Secretary. of Transportation Rodney Slater; Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory; Carl Ballton, President, Union Bank of California Foundation; Danny Bakewell Sr., Chairman, National Newspapers Publishers Association; Dr. Frank Gilliam, Dean of the UCLA School of Public Affairs, Harry Johnson, Sr., President & CEO, Washington DC Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., and Roland Martin, TV One. Additional Los Angeles delegates include Jasmyne Cannick, LA activist and journalist, Carl Dickerson, CEO, Dickerson Employee Benefits, Tom Sayles, VP, Government and Community Relations, USC and LA Urban League’s COO Trevor Ware and Executive Assistant Bonnie Thomas-Jeter. Taylor, Ware and Thomas-Jeter will provide daily updates and pictures at www.laul.org and facebook.com/laurbanleague.

“All Urban League affiliates will find value in partnerships with China, a nation that has emerged from third world to global superpower status in less than 25 years,” said Taylor. “There are clearly mutual benefits from a relationship between the African-American community in the United States and the peoples of China."