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TWO THE CLARK PANTHER, MAY, 1954, ATLANTA, GEORGIA The Clark Panther A Journal of College Life Published from September to June By the'Students of Clark College, Atlanta, Georgia A promoter of school spirit by encouraging projects and efforts among student groups and individual students. A medium through which an opportunity is provided for students to obtain experience in newsgathering, reporting, book-reviewing, edi torial, and creative writing. An instrument for fostering friendly and constructive criticism of carngms activities. Ernest M. Pharr, Editor-in-Chief Glendora Patterson, Associate Editor Elridge W. McMillan, Assistant Editor J. F. Summersette, Advisor W. T. Robie, Advisor Walter Willis, Jr Religious Editor Anne Reida McKoy, Bertha Gholston,] Reporters Alfred Dockett, Eileen Jonas i Kwamena Dougan Betty Jean Snype Literary Editor Samuel Rosser, Harold Wardlaw, Robert Daniels Circulation Managers Virginia Wilson, Yvonne Southall Staff Typists Willie F. Kelsey, Betty Green, Ida Baugh Copy Readers E. M. Pharr. Make-up E. W. McMillan Exchange Editor Yvonne Southall Secretary to Editor Member of Intercollegiate Press (IP) Ernest M. Pharr And What Shall You Do, Southern States? Kwamena Dougan Attributes of A True Friend Love is Divine. And friendship which is the expression of love through the actions and expressions of God’s creatures is also divine. It is always the aim of lovers to practice ideal friendships; but this high state of friendship is seldom reached. This ideal friendship unites two souls so completely that they reflect the unity of spirit and its divine qualities. To be loved, one must love first. This is a divine law. It is through what one puts ; n this bargain of friendship that determines the real wealth of the lover. Our love should, in short, embrace all God’s crea tures, but among all these we must have one special lover. i have always admired young women. But at the same time, they are the creatures I fear most in the world. Women are attractive, charm ing, soft and loving. There is nothing in the world that could equal the love of a woman in real love. Her soft voice and gentle looks are the sources of inspiration to the dejected man. Her divine kiss will disperse all the worries in the world. All the happiness and even the very life of a man is in the hands of his lover. What then will be the fate of such a man when his girl fails to provide this? His fate is only deplorable. A woman is very poisonous if her love is false. It is, therefore, very essentia] that the real qualities in a person should be known before real friendship could be established. Friendship should not be influenced by an outward limitation such as the relative position of people. It should be quite natural. True friendship consists of being mutually useful, in offering one’s friends good cheer in distress, sympathy in sorrow, advice in trouble and material help in times of real need. Friendship consists of rejoicing and glorying in the good fortunes of our friends and sympathizing with them in adversity. A real friend gladly foregoes his selfish pleasures or self-interest for the sake of a friend’s happiness, without counting the cost. It is only when tire seeds of jealousy, selfishness, and distrust are grown in the intercourse of friendship that the lovers seek the down fall of each other. But the greater our mutual service, the deeper the friendship. Many times during our courses of study we have encountered that of history and have accepted this course for what it is never thinking too much about it because it does not have as much meaning as it would if the events had happened during our time. High Noon, Monday, 'May 17, provided us with the moment of one of the most historic de cisions of our time—one which our children, grandchildren, etc., will read in their books long after we have departed this prejudiced-rack - ed nation, for it was on the aforementioned date that the United States Supreme Court outlawed segregation in the public schools. The decision, prompted by the NAACP’s successive handling of trio cases coming from Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, Kansas and the District of Columbia, placed the stamp of unconstitutionality upon school systems in 17 states where segregation is mandatory and others where it is permissive. As expected, it drew unfavorable comment from many of the states concerned—and the cry of Georgia, led hv Governor Talmadge, was heard loudest. On the eve and morning after the decision the newspapers hit the stands with screaming black headlines displaying Georgia’s displeasure with the decision. “Segregation to continue”, a “plan for permanent segregation of the races” and calling of the Supreme Court’s decision as “low politics” were only a few of the howls issued by displeased government and school officials. Only the death of a close friend, complete wiping out of the human race or destruction of something very dear to me could have brought more mental degradation to me than those headlines. After eighty-nine years of continuous hammering, pleading, fighting and elevation of ourselves from the status of slavery to that of the present-day, we are still not accepted by many narrow-minded, godless people. Sometimes I wonder how people such as Governors Talmadge, Byrnes and Shivers came to be made “in the image of God.” Those headlines were like trip-hammers—beating out the prejudiced message that “you are Negroes, you’re next to nothing and we shall never accept you as fellow Americans.” Those hammers hurt, but there is consolation—and to an over whelming degree—in the fact that here an important step has been made—that we have a strong leg to hold upon with the decision and that the long-weakening and rotting leg of segregation in the public schools has taken its first step into quicksand. Some of these states will comply with the ruling while many will try to fight it, even though the ruling does not end segregation at once. There will be more hearings, more court-fights, more bitterness and more screaming, trip-hammer headlines while broadminded people call for the same calmness of emotion and saneness of mind in order to avert violence and a possible re-creation of the Civil War in the same manner as they are now. There will he more hours of long delib erations to avert violence, and there will be more mental pain inflicted by the prejudiced, the cowards and the strong. our leaders are trying to accelerate the death of school segregation are openly bellowing, “we want segregation.” They are the people who are afraid of their jobs—who don’t know and know they don’t know how to instruct pupils in the manner in which they should have trained themselves with the full realization of the aims of education upon them, instead of their aim—the drawing of that check! If these people don’t know their fields and subject-matter, shame on them! I have no respect for any of the advocators of the “we want segregation” move ment, white or colored. One is just as un-American as the other when a people are said to be Americans, but are denied the same rights that other Americans enjoy. They can say that we aren’t ready for integration, but we cannot get ready for a thing unless we have first experienced it. Student teachers must now have nine weeks of labora tory experience at some school before they can be issued a professional teacher’s certificate; a swimmer must have, at one time, entered the pool for experience in order to be a good swimmer. And so, school segregation must be outlawed and integration experienced if we are to ever be as the excuse-makers say, “ready for it.” Segregation in all its forms is the only thing that many of us know! It is three hundred and thirty-five years past the time for us to know complete integra tion! (The first Negro slave was brought to America in 1619). Our minds and hearts must be opened by gome great power to erase the prejudice and narrow-mindedness the eayth has known for much too long. Yes, Mr. and Mrs, Southerner, the Jeg to which you have for Then, too, a true friend does not delve into the personal business of his associates for the mere purpose of seeking information to spread malicious gossip and to bring uncalled for frowns by other people upon the friend who has lost his social standing through the machiavellian cunning of one whose one-sided talk has swayed the minds of those who are (1) anxious to hear such talk in order to spread more and (2) those who are unable to weigh the issue for themselves. We must always remember that personal affairs are things that many people are sensi tive to and do not appreciate the diffusion of other people into their affairs unless genuine, confidenital advice is desired by the person. Jesus had many followers because of his unsurpassed service to hu manity. It is therefore very necessary for friends to be prepared to help each other at all times. With these words, 1 bid each of you adieu while extending best wishes for a prosperous summer with the hope of returning to Clark with indigenous motivation for success in our classwork. To those who are of the graduating class, I hope they will make as much or better a success of life on the outside as they have of life at college. May we spread our friendships, not only this summer, but always, in making the world a place of beautiful symphonic harmony. Luther Stripling An Attitude of Defeat A defeatist attitude is a disas trous thing for one to possess in this perplexed, modern-day society. Such an attitude has been known to deprive many persons of suc cess while others have decided that they “can’t do it” at the very last moment when they have almost reached the fulfillment of their goal. In many of our classrooms to day, we find a great majority of our students possessing an atti tude of defeat. This is highly con spicuous in almost every class that one might visit during the day. This is a trait that has developed over' a period of time. I feel that it has developed because of two major reasons: (1) the superiority of other students and (2) the lack of confidence in one’s self. There are others, but these two impress me as being most outstanding where we are concerned. An inci dent to illustrate my point oc- curred one day when I was about to enter my locker. There were a group of young men just leaving a class. They had just received some test papers and were some what peeved and pessimistic about the results they received. They were saying that in this class there was a young man who always “set the curve” in this particular class. He could, at a moment’s notice, answer any question directed to him by the instructor. These young men said that they didn’t even try to get their work, because of the fact that this young man would, get all of the highest marks. So, it was evident that these young men had given up. As the poet said, “In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of life, Be not like dumb driven cattle, Be a hero in strife.” These young men gave a good example of the attitude of a defeatist. In stead, they should have tried to give the other person some com petition. One should always feel that whatever someone else can do, he can do also. This is not true in all cases, but generally we find it true. Suppose our president was one who possessed the attitude of a defeatist. Would there be a great Clark—Second to None? Suppose our athletes would have had a de featist attitude. Would we have emerged victorious this past sea son? The answers can only be NO! When things don’t seem to go so well, we should smile and don’t envy those who seem to succeed with more rapidity than we. We should always remember that for every cloudy moment, there is a m'dnight moon above, and there is always a blue bird of happiness if one will only say, “I CAN.” so long clung in order to bar us from those things which are rightfully ours, is crumbling into dust to be forever buried in quicksand, slowly but surely! And What Shall You Do, Southern States? A College Student Prays By Walter Willis, Jr. We thank Thee, Our Father, that thou hast been with us in all worthy undertakings over the past four years. Thou hast been true to Thy promise that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Without Thy guidance and help, we feel sure that the goal which now appears in view would have never been reached. We thank Thee for this insti tution, Clark College. May its motto, “Culture for Service”, forever be our inspiration. We thank Thee for parents with out whose help College attend ance for us would have been im possible; our teachers who in spired us to do our best when we were satisfied with second best: and those persons, agen cies and foundations that have invested in our lives through the means of scholarships and loans. We pray that commencement for us shall not mean gradua tion or the end. May our quest for knowledge understanding never cease. And though college shall mean for some of us an end of our formal education and training, may we remember that “education is a life long process.” We thank Thee that Thou hast taught us that our sphere of appreciation and understand ing should not be limited to our Fraternity or Sorority, or group, but to their group, their Fraternity, their Sorority. Bless those whom we leave behind. Inspire them as Thou hast inspired us, by the visita tion of Thy Spirit. Give us the assurance that Thou art with us now, as in the past. In His name we pray. AMEN. Religious Services Highlight College Life Playing an important role in College life, especially in a church- related institution, are the Reli gious Life Activities which were greatly accentuated this past year at Clark under the directorship of Reverend George Tate. Highlight of the year in Re ligious Life was the inauguration of Mid-Week Formal Worship Services. Inauguration of this service was prompted due to the inability of non-resident students to attend the College Vespers and Morning Worship on Sunday, and at the same time to strengthen the over-all religious program. Conducted each Wednesday morn ing, the Service found invited speakers from the city and stu dents in the Department of Re ligion here delivering the ad dresses. Another feature of Religious Ac tivities was the inauguration of the Fellowship of Faith and Ac tion which enjoyed tremendous success by many interested stu dents. The meetings were held each Sunday evening in the resi dences and featured speakers and pane! discussions. Students were highly commend ed for their participation and con duction of the Mid-Week Prayer Services in which organizations, clubs and individuals brought forth some interesting and inspir ing services. The Vesper and Morning Services accentuated the Religious Life in the manner typ ical of past years. The Usher’s Guild, consisting of male and fe male students, provided voluntary usher service for the activities. Music was provided by the De partment of Music,