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2 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1967 The Panther The Clark Panther PURPOSE A journal of college life published from September to June by students. To fill the vacuum of lack and effective communication be tween students and administration; students and students. An instrument for fostering constructive criticism of activi ties pertaining to college life. Senior Editor-in-Chief Carrell Smith Co-Editor Jerry R. Allen Assistant Editor Robert Allen News Editor Regina Nixon Copy Editor Juanita Hall Feature Editors Hattie Grimes, Marcia Jackson, Roger Porter Fashion Editor Helen Boykin Greek Editor Norris Arnold Cartoon Editor Madeline Durham Sports Editors Rubye Jackson, Dwight Ellison Managing Editors Harold Craig, Johnny Bruce Exchange Editor Eddie Embry Inquiring Reporters Mary Jo Clark, Robert Price Photographer Charles Smith Advisors Mrs. Long, Mr. Baker Ox o PRESS Editorial Notebook A Note to the Blind Man by Jerry R. Allen Blind man can’t you see? Sometime during the lapse of ex istence, some well-known historian made the statement, “give me liberty or make me black.” Similarly, an anonymous person was given credit for saying, “a black man in need is a black man indeed.” Still, another distinguished personality made the com ment, “I regret that 1 have but one black man to give to my country.” Blind man can’t you see? Webster defines the word “white,” a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon word “whit,” as meaning that which is pure, innocent, free from evil intent, harmless. While on the other hand, he defines the word “black,” a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon word “blaec,” as meaning that which is dark, dirty, evil, wicked, sad, dismal, sullen. Blind man can’t you see? Can’t you see why you tend to shy away from the word “black”? Can’t you see the deriva tive of the word “black”? Can’t you see the connotation given to the word “black”? Can’t you see the psychology of the word “black”? Can’t you see the dramatic effect of the word “black”? Blind man can’t you see? The pur pose of P.R.I.D.E. (Persons Ready In the Defense of Ebony) on the Clark College Camps is, “to instill within the consciousness of Afro-Americans the beauty of their black being, the strength of their past nad the possibilities of their future.” Parallelingly, P.R.I.D.E.’s declaration of hope is, “through the efforts of this organization, blackness will no longer be a subservient quality. Nor will blackness continue to remain in the minds of Afro- Americans as representative of inferiority, evilness or undesir ability. It is the opinion of this group that our objectives are in keeping with the time and only through the maintenance of such an organization will an awareness of blackness find its roots in the minds of the masses of black people in this country and the world.” Blind man can’t you see? you have a past. You have a present. You have a future. In short, you have an identity. Be proud of your identity. However, even more important, be aware of your identity. Blind man can’t you see? A few years ago, some outstanding individual said, “ask not what the black man can do for you; ask what you can do for the black man.” Blind man can’t you see that you are black? No More Nothing n by Carrell Smith Life is a game where you never win or completely lose. There are some achievements made that makes a person feel proud and happy and there are defeats that test the very souls of men, even (in some cases) to the point of self-destruction. What is it about nature that shatters happiness in life. How can a person feel so pessimistic and depressed all of a sudden when just yesterday he had hopes and a future. Is love of man and self so important that the very foundation of a person can be wrecked when disappointment arrives? The answer is, regretfully, yes. Life has no favorite people, it abuses and torments individuals at will, from a random sample of the chaotic world. Having a future is only a dream governed by a pendulum that sways a person’s life into the zone of hope and happiness back to the dreaded zone of pessimism and grief. Be ever waiting for the least expected, for you are one who has a 50-50 chance of being swayed by the eternal and mental castration of the pendulum. Sdit&ld @oxrt&i . . . "The Secure Of the College Student" by Carrell Smith When time comes for the college student to meet the world, will the student be ready to meet its demands? Thinking realistical ly, most college students will not be properly trained to entangle themselves in the cruel and vicious cycle of the outside world. After finishing college a great deal of students feel that the world owes them a living and jobs are already available at their request. Some students feel that the only prerequisite for obtain ing a position in life is a degree. How wrong can one person be. It is a hard, cold and unsympathetic world at the exit of the college door with courage and will power as the student’s only weapons against the force of a well-corrupted society. For the “A” student it is not what you know (and never forget it) it is who you know in this world that will advance your future. Knowledge is an invaluable gift of life but in order to obtain success there must be a combination used of what you know about life and “who you know in life” (the latter being the most important of the two). The regurgitation of ideas, facts and numbers to an instructor is only the start of the challenging life you are confronted with after school. There will be greater responsibilities in life that will test the firmness of your human endurance, such as: Securing a steady and a suffi cient amount of income to support all aspects of life, including a wife and family, being able to handle general problems (car re pairs, monthly bills, home maintenance and budgeting), providing education for children, protection from outside social forces and the perseverance of personal success. These problems do not be gin to scratch the surface of the many conflicts you will be con fronted with after leaving the not so demanding campus life. The previous comments are not intended to be discouraging but rather an incentive to acquaint the “secure feeling student” with reality—the outside world. Study hard and achieve as much as possible on the academic level but do not limit yourself. Venture some and find out what life is all about on the other side of the fence. Too long (especially among Negroes) we have been told to “get an education so you won’t have to work so hard all of your life,” but if education is not channeled properly you are still left holding the bag. One thing in particular the Negro must always remember is that he has to meet “the system” (white system) which can break or make an individual no matter how many diplomas or degrees a person has acquired. Students should be increasingly aware of the present chaotic condition of the world. It should be known by students that there is a strong possibility of the human race becoming extinct if there is an all out war attack of country against country. Surprisingly enough very few students (Negro) know that this country can turn any black community into a concentration camp within 30 minutes by letting no people in or out of the said community, cutting off the water supply, food supply and surrounding the area in definitely with National Guardsmen. Apathy is a sickness and must be counteracted with reason, ambition and unity of persons that are concerned with the destiny of mankind. The “happy-go-lucky student” day is over. Today those persons are neither happy nor lucky, he just “goes.” Don’t let yourself go. GRAMBUNG by Frank Browning GRAMBLING, La. (CPS)—Grambling College has suspended 25 students who have been leading demonstrations and class strikes aimed at upgrading the “academic environment” of the school and de-emphasizing sports. The students, 22 males and three coeds, were given two hours to leave the campus. Among those suspended were the student body president and the editor of the student newspaper. The mass suspensions, however, did not end a student boycott of classes which began last Wednesday. The college, which is pre dominantly Negro, has a total enrollment of 4,200 students, but only 200 attended classes Monday. Student leaders said the strike will continue indefinitely. The tense situation here last week came to a head Saturday when Louisiana Gov. John McKeithen ordered out 500 National Guardsmen to blunt possible student uproars. The troops never arrived at the campus, but are still standing by at Ruston, a town six miles away. The suspension of the student leaders Monday came as a surprise. The students were called before a joint meeting of the college’s Disciplinary Committee and the Interdepartmental Coun cil. Three minutes after the meeting began the suspensions were announced. Three students are members of the Disciplinary Committee, but two of them, the student body president and vice president, (Continued on Page 4) Afro-Americanism Its Outgrowth by Marcia J. Jackson (Part I deals with Black Culture and its advantages. Part II deals more specifically with the or ganization of P.R.I.D.E. and other local college organiza tions.) “African and Afro-American intellectuals sometimes uncon sciously forget, and always find it painful to consciously accept, the disconcerting fact that many African societies and the cul tures that they emobdy are of ten viewed with contempt, and sometimes with fascinated hor ror, b ythe peoples of the West ern World, including the black masses of the United States,” says Saint Clare Drake, promi nent social anthropologist. Too many “Western values” have come to over-shadow with de gradation what can be consid ered pure and authentic art and culture. These “values” have thus tended to cause a stereo typed impression of Black Cul ture. Too often those persons who idealize that “Western cul ture” and its values associate contempt, revulsion, shame, su- perstitution, and guilt with the word “black” — “The blacklist is contemptible”; “The Black man is inferior”; “The black cat is bad luck”; “Black is dirty. Such sayings are mere racial, cultural stereotypes, therefore not necesarily true. The critical intellectual, how ever, as distinguished from the less critical man, constantly seeks to explore and uncover racial conditioning, always at- the truism in all cultural and tempting to avoid distortions and misconceptions of partial perspectives in order to derive its objective. As a result of this need for objectivity, particularly in the north, there has been ex pressed concern for Africa and its culture. The “intellectuals” of these colleges and universi ties, who know very little about Africa in general, have come to regard Africa more objectiveL today than it has been regarded in the past. More and more Negro Americans have ex pressed concern for Black Af rica and its heritage. As proof of this concern and in order to eliminate the stereotyped images of Black Africa, Afro-American Societies and outgrowths of the Society have emerged. With the idea of advancing African culture while simultane ously instilling a sense of pride and dignity in the Black masses, many Clark College students have organized an Afro-Ameri can Society, a “black aware ness” group very appropriately called PRIDE, Persons Ready in the Defense of Ebony. Such a society for any racial culture offers many advantages. In the first place, the organization of Afro-American societies estab lishes a fundamental basis upon which can be built a learning of the value and worth of Black Culture, including primitive Af rican art, socio-economic status of the African people, political policies and trends, and social attitudes. Secondly, there are numerous misconceptions on the part of Negro Americans with regard to Africa-miscon- ceptions such as, “Africa is the black jungle land of wild ani mals, cannibals an dhot des erts,” “Black Africans feel that (Continued on Page 4)