Rev. Tyrone Crider, executive director of Operation PUSH, will come to NIU tonight to give a speech as part of the Black Heritage Month activities.

Crider will appear in the Duke Ellington Ballroom at the Holmes Student Center at 7 p.m. The speech is open to the public and is free of charge.

Crider’s speech, sponsored by the Organization for Black Business Students and Alpha Phi Alpha, is titled “The Black Economy.”

“Rev. Crider will speak on where black people of this nation stand in relation to where we were 20 to 30 years ago,” said Van Amos, program coordinator for the Center of Black Studies.

“He will touch on the total black economy including standards of jobs, standards of living and where we stack up with other ethnic groups,” Amos said.

“Due to the efforts of O.B.B.S., Alpha Phi Alpha and Black Council, students will be able to hear a relatively young person with considerable knowledge of higher education and insight into the future of blacks up to the year 2000,” Amos said.

Rev. Crider, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, has been cited by Dollars and Sense Magazine as one of the “Outstanding Men of America” and in Ebony Magazine as one of “The Outstanding Leaders of the Future.”

He also was a vital contributor to Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign and is currently the National Executive Director of Operation PUSH, which is headquartered in Chicago.

Crider recently led Operation PUSH’s widely publicized boycott of Nike that occurred last year.

“We are very fortunate to have a person who has been called a future leader of tomorrow speak here at NIU,” Amos said.

Following the speech, Alpha Phi Alpha will be holding their Black and Gold pageant at 8 p.m. for $3 a person.