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2 JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1968
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.
Editor-In-Chief .... ----- Carrell Smith
Assistant Editor — Jerry Allen
Harold Craig, E. Robert Price,
Roger Porter, Robert Allen
Ronald Coleman, Eddie Embry
Jonathan Pointer
Hattie Grimes, Marcia Jackson
Roger Porter, Harold Craig,
E. Robert Price, Jonathan
Pointer, Eddie Embry
Jerry Allen
Norris Arnold
. Helen Boykin, Debbie Jones,
Gerald Spann
Dwight Ellison, Rubye Jackson
..Lizzette Jones, Ronald Coleman
„ Omega Tucker, Debbie Jones,
Annie Washington, Gerald Spann,
Isaac Von Cleveland
Charles Smith
Mr. Baker and Miss Long
PRESS
Executive Editorialist
Associate Editorialist
Feature Editors
Managing Editors
Greek Editor
Social Editors
Sports Editors
Cartoonists
Columnists
Photographer
Advisors
Has Student Apathy Returned!
by Harold Craig
A long, ugly, constricting serpeant has again attacked the stu
dent body — this serpeants name is APATHY. Perhaps this ser
peant attacked because final exams were coming or maybe he
students felt that PRIDE was to be the answer to all of Clark’s
ills. Regardless of wha the reason is apathy has attacked our stu
dent body and the serpeant mus be killted.
Apathy on our campus can be defeated only when we realize
that the students’ greatest power is not the heads of the SGA,
not PRIDE, not the charismaic power of our new college presi
dent but with the studens themselves. This
need not mean that banners be unfurled
for useless causes in the name of Student
Power. It entails the interest of every stu
dent in what is happening on campus,
what our problems are and what, if any
thing, is being done about them.
Student interest is definitely declining.
Not only is attendance dropping at cul
tural and academic affairs but social func
tions as well. Fewer and fewer students
attend our home basketball games and
the spirit is at its lowest. Even when stu
dents are faced wiht problems which di
rectly involve them they tend to pass the
buck not caring what solution is reached. In the past a picket line
was called for by the SGA president to proest inadequate heating
in Brawley Hall and only four protesters marched. Not until the
rumor that Clark was to loose its accrediation did student interest
themselves in the evaluation program being conducted on campus.
Everybody grumbels because the school is raising its tuition by
$200 but none bother to ask whether this will mean an increase
in student services, better food in the dining hall, faster moving
cafeteria lines, more top caliber instructors, etc.
We complain about courses which seem unsuited to prepare one
for today’s society but how many students have even asked the
faculty curriculum committee to include or exclude certain courses.
How many have shown any type of appreciation to the faculty and
staff members who seem attuned with the problems of college
students. How many dare to raise hell when a sudent is treated
unfairly by the administration, faculty or saff.
Unfortunately, too few do these things. Too many say that it is
the job of the SGA but the SGA, PRIDE or any other student
organization can only move in the direction its students push it.
Without the push there is no movement. Let’s push, let’s slay the
serpent.
A Twelve Year Old Menace
How dangerous can a 12-year-old girl be? Dangerous enough,
thinks our Defense Department, to warrant cancelling 13,000 mili
tary subscriptions to a Presbyterian Sunday School magazine.
Barbara Beidler of Vero Beach, Florida, wrote a poem about
napalm bombs dropped on a jungle village in Viet Nam.
The Defense Department, ruling that the little girl’s poem was
“an embarrassing item concerning Vietnam,” promptly ordered the
cancellation of all subscriptions. One union newspaper, the Butch
er Workman, editorialized: “If the poem embarrassed the Defense
Department, the Vietnam war embarrasses every nation on earth.”
From “Let’s Be Human”—newsletter of the Institute of
Human Relations of the American Jewish Committee.
7be £cUt&i & (fynae* . . ,
"Something To Think About"
by Carrell Smith
Everyday something happens that causes me' to wonder about
the directions in which the world is now traveling. World peace
seems to be impossible while chaos and hatred are placed on pedes
tals as guidelines for living. When I was very young the world
seemed to be a place care-free of worries, happy living and very
few obligations. As I grew older I finally began to see how com
plicated and harsh the world really could be.
For once in my life I now see the world for what it really stands
for. People must exploit, fool, manipulate and kill other human
beings. There must be wars so that many
mothers and wives will spend hours and
days grieving over their loved ones. It is
quite apparent that no one really cares
about whether a person lives or dies be
cause the world is a dog eat dog situation.
In segments of India children go hungry
and in many instances die due to this lack
of nourishment, when in the United States
millions of dollars are spent a day to
maintain excess wheat storage in the vari
ous mid-western states.
One does not have to visit Indian to
see useless waste of human life. Here in
the states many prime examples of “na
tional lack of interest” can be seen. In Birmingham, Alabama hun
dreds of babies dies from malnutrition and plack of proper medical
attention.
The elements of nature seem to be working against mankind in
his efforts to obtain goals above the realm of reality. There have
been more floods in the past two years in the United States than
all the years combined from dates 1950 to 1965. Weather condi
tions help keep the critical statistics (of 50,000 persons killed in
highway accidents each year at a norm). This winter we have wit
nessed the terrible experiences that the Navajo Indian tribe endured
as they were held captive and immobilized by the strong snow
storms.
In the 1960’s we have lost (by death) more renowned leaders,
actors and educators thant at any other decade in past history. In
the East there has been a continuous clash between countries of
that area against each other and countries of that area against
nations of the West. In summary nations of the world are in con
stant conflict with each other and strangely enough most of all the
countries on the earth are not in good harmony with the United
States.
Nothing more can be stated pertaining to world conditions that
has not already been mentioned in the daily news reports. Killings,
insanity, hatred, exploitation and disappointments seem to char
acterize the destination in which the 20th Century world is travel
ing — and that is — to total destruction. The only important ele
ment which is left out of the modern technological world we live in
is God and prayer.
“It may please man to venture and bring forth fruits of
exotic essence, but it is of no value to the homeland to
venture where there is no significance or essence.”
A HEALTHY SIGN
by Floyd Coleman
Five or six years ago the only
place one would find a signifi
cant number of persons wear
ing an afro-hair style would be
in Harlem. Now one can go in
the Black Belt of Alabama, in
South Georgia and on the Clark
College Campus and see the
kinky hair which say to all: I’m
black and I’m proud of it. This
is not to say that there are not
others who do not think the
same way. But this is a way of
leaving little to wonder about.
An attempt to remove all ves
tiges of slave mentality. To era
dicate the colonial dependency
complex. To place a new esthe
tic in the room.
On the Clark College Cam
pus one sees African costumes,
beads, and other paraphenelia
which relate to the black people
of Africa. To the critics of such
a deliberate attempt to identify
with the people of Africa: an
analogy can be made between
this and the Sullivan’s and the
O’Hara’s wearing green, the
Johnson’s and the McNiven’s
coat of arms What is wrong
with identifying with Africa?
Nothing. This country is sup
pose to be the melting pot. Peo
ples of all races and nationalities
are suppose to find a home
here. Why not those black ones
who came in bondage?
Look at the Free Thinkers or
ganization. Look at the Com
munity Action Group. Look at
the Student Government Asso
ciation. Look at the students
who read and who are asking
questions in the classrooms.
Who do we see? Certainly not
the black carbon copy of Joe
College. We see the beads and
kinky hair. A healthy sign.
Clark College is getting into
the stance to move academically
as a good small college. It is
attracting a student body which
is becoming less docile. We all
realize that there are shortcom
ings. That at times things seem
like a bad theme, prolix. All of
the nuts and bolts don’t match.
We could all grow fat (look
who’s talking) and be happy on
our little island. Let the world
go by. Fortunately all is not
caught up in the black bourgeois
The Psychology
of Pride
“Mr. Mays, we both have the
same objective—that is, advan
cing the black man in America
—but our means differ greatly.
I believe in going into the com
munity with various programs
and you want to deal in pride.”
This is a statement that I hear
frequently and just as frequently
I find myself vehemently de
fending the pride approach to
black elevation.
First of all, one must under
stand that the black man in this
country is not on the bottom
because he is inferior, (It is very
important to understand this) he
is not on the bottom because he
does not work hard, and he is
not on the bottom because he
does not want good things out
of life. It is my observation that
the black man is on the bottom
because it has been forced into
his black mind from the day he
was born that “if you’re white,
you’re alright; but if you’re
black, get back.” The first time
a five year old boy is told by
his grandmother that if he
drinks coffee “you’ll turn black”
he knows that there is some
thing wrong with being black.
And whenever he did something
mischievous and his mother told
him to “stop acting like a nig
ger” he knew that looking like a
black person was bad enough
but acting like one was the
worse thing you could do. In
other words, through all these
snatches of conversation he came
to feel that black rightfully be
longed on the bottom and white
belonged on top. This is where
the inferiority complex began
and it ends in a black ghetto.
What has all this to do with
elevation? It’s simple. Has it
occurred to you that the reason
some groups progress so rapidly
is because they truly believe that
they are suppose to do well?
This is particularly true with
religious groups. Whatever your
opinion of the Black Muslims,
you must agree that they have
grown both economically and
politically. My guess is that it
is because of pride and a feeling
that they are suppose to be on
top because they are “God’s
chosen people.” There are other
religious groups in this country
(the Mormons, the Jews) who
feel that they are God’s chosen
people and somehow they pros
per. This trick, it seems, is that
pride makes you want to be on
top and you will not settle for
less.
I deal in black pride because
pride and not do-it-yourself
projects must come first in order
that black people may be moti
vated to be the very best in
every field of endeavor. Certain
ly there are those blacks who
are individually proud, but not
as a group. The day nation of
black people in this country be
comes proud is the day that it
will leave the bottom position
on the totem pole and take its
rightful place among men.
syndrome. PRIDE, Community
Action Group, and other aware
students are beginning to create
an academically conscious at
mosphere (although small) on
the campus. We have the fra
ternities on one end and the
activist organizations on the
other. Some of our young “to
gether” students will make
waves. A healthy sign.