Newspaper Page Text
Predominantly White Schools Disappoint Blacks
By DONALD G. JENKINS
Located on Chestnut St.
in the heart of Atlanta’s
southwest Black communi
ty in the Nash-Washington
area, the John F. Kennedy
Community Center has
many services that Clark
College students (all stu
dents of the Atlanta Uni
versity complex) may uti
lize.
This five million dollar
project has over eleven
community agencies and
serves the community seven
lays a week and twelve
The design of th e center
•as the result of one of
U smost extensive, co-ope
rative planning efforts ever
undertaken by a city.
John Letson, former su
perintendent o f Atlanta
schools, give credit to
Ralph A. Long for first pool
ing the agencies and the
school people and “keeping
them all happy under one
roof.” Ralph Long is the
center director and has been
a respected black education
leader for many years in
Atlanta. Long has been a
member of the Clark Colp
lege Trustee Board since
1965.
The Kennedy Center gives
classes to anyone who would
like to participate inthem.
The classes are ten weeks
long and only cost three
dollars per course.
Some of the classes are
Ast. Nursing. Companion
nursing, Basic Education,
Speed Reading, Shorthand,
Karate and Boxing, Elec
tronics, Floral Design,
Cashier Training, Sign Lan
guage, Dance, Music, Swim
ming, Woodwork, Tailo
ring, Real Estate and Mo
deling.
They also have Driving
course which is for ten
weeks and costs forty-five
dollars.
If it is pottery and cera
mic skills that you would
like t o acquire, then the
Senior Citizens Club, (al
so known as the Swinging
Seniors), will supply your
needs. During the Christ
mas season many of their
wares are displayed at va
rious shopping centers. Low
priced Brie -a-Brae is
their speciality.
The Kennedy Center con
tains three housing services
Housing and Home Manage
ment Service, Housing Re
location Services, and the
Housing Code Service. They
are willing to help any one
with housing problems.
“The center is open to
everyone and is serving the
people that want to be ser
ved. Most young people do
not take advantages of the
manyopportunities that are
available to them, says
Ralph Young.
“I found my self hope
lessly lost in a white rat
race,” Donald said. “There
was no concern for either
black people or the black
community.”
Donald found himself
with no one to relate to even
after class. Then, he heard
about Atlanta and the At
lanta University Center.
“I saw this thriving black
community, rich in re
sources and with a system
of learning institutions with
black perspectives,” Donald
said.
“So I came to the ‘Black
Mecca.”
Neither Atlanta nor the
AU Center has lived up to
his expectations. Clark ne
ither has the funds nor the
facilities for some instruc
tional aids he thinks are
needed.
But Donald says, “You
just have to put more in,
to get more out.”
Apparently, others came
to the center with the inten
tion of finding a “Black
Mecca.”
Jay F. Mitchell, an ad
vanced sophomore, who tra
nsferred from Queens Col
lege in Flushing, New York
said that he had heard very
good things about the AU
Center before coming here
from some “beautiful” peo
ple, including Duke Elling
ton, jazz i pianist.
This inspired him to
come to Clark after having
decided to leave Queens.
However, Jay was a disa
ppointed when he came to
Clark. He found only a few
to be “beautiful” and the
others were just out for ma
terial gains, he said.
“In Queens College, there
were 350,000 students,” Jay
explained, “and only 80,000
were Blacks.”
“But the blacks there
were more together than the
students here.”
However, this was not
enough to keep him there,
apparently. He transfer
red from Queens because of
racism. One incident re
mains clear in his mind.
Jay, interested in a mass
communications ca
reer, tried out for a course
called “Sesame Street,” -
where the students would
write c scripts for the TV
show and or work with the
production crew. He sub
mitted his script but was
turned down and only per
mitted to sit in on the
course with no voice in the
proceedings. He later found
out that all students who
were accepted were white
and Jewish.
Jay doesn’t encounter
much racism at Clark, but
feels that the students lack
black awareness.
"You find the sam* peo
ple being the backbone of
everything,” he said.
Jay feels that the educa
tional facilities at Clark are
good, though many instruc
tors “lack patience.”
When asked if he plans
to leave Clark, Jay shook
his head and said he will
stick it out.
“I like my Black peo
ple,” he said.
Apparently being around
other Blacks is the main
incentive for Black stu
dents to leave predomin
antly white schools.
Rawles, the admissions
director, said that there-
could be several reasons
why such students trans
fer. He’s sure that is one
reason.
Whatever the reason,
more and more students are
transferring from large
white universities and seve
ral from northern cities,
he said.
PANTHER-December, 1973-Page 6
Clark Transfers Cite Why
By FANNIE FLONO
Photo by Patrick Spencer
JAY MITCHELL
Four years ago, out of
the total enrollment at Clark
College, less than 15 were
transfer students. This year
that number has more
than trippled and according
to Clifton Rawles, Admis
sions Director at Clark,
he rate will probably in-
rease significantly every
ear.
Many of the students who
ansfer to Clark come from
redominantly white schools,
'"he main reason given by
lost of the students was
both political and social.
“There was hardly any
one to relate to,” Josephine
Randall, a sophomore from
the University of Miami,
said.
‘“Out of 22,000 students
only 300 were black,” she
said.
This was a little more
than one per cent and even
among these few blacks,,
there was “no harmony.”
JOSEPHINE RANDLE
“We had a Black Student
Union and different groups
within the Union just didn’t
get along,” Josephine said.
“There was a continual po
wer struggle.”
There is an “open nos-
tility” that exists between
Blacks and whites that is
true of most large univer
sities of this kind, she said.
According to Josephine,
the school was so large that
there was little or no op
portunity for the average
student to succeed.
“Most of the black stu
dents are on some kind of
aid and probably have to
work.”
This may cause your
grades to go down, she said.
Also, at Miami, white stu
dents have more “connec
tions” and can afford to and
do buy exams from students
who may work in depart
mental offices, she said.
“This is a disadvantage
to many black students who
cannot do this.”
Josephine’s roommate,
Frances Ferguson, was al
so a classmmate of hers at
the University of Miami.
She transferred last year
when Josephine did.
“I left mainly for the
same reasons that Josephine
did,” she said. “I wanted
to be around black people.”
According to Frances,
there was great incentive
for her to stay at Miami.
“I had a full scholarship
and $400 spending money,”
Both Josephine and Fran
ces admitted that it isn’t
hard for you to get finan
cial aid at white schools.
The problem is keeping it.
“They’ll cut your finan
cial aid in a minute if your
average drops below 2.0,”
Frances said.
Almost all of the black
students enrolled have ave
rages below 2.0, she said.
According to these ladies,
all of the black friends?
they had at Miami have -
transferred to predomin
antly black schools.
Donald Gray, a transfer
student from San Jose State
in California, attended se
veral predominantly white
schools before coming to
Clark.
“I attended the Univer
sity of California’s exten
sion at Stanford, Berkeley,
and Compton Junior Col
lege,” he said.
“Initially, I was only con
cerned with furthering my
education.”
I wanted to get all the
knowledge I could there,”
Donald said.
However, they had things
“so much out of context,”
he said.
Kennedy Center Offers Variety Program
John F. Kennedy Center offers a wide variety of activ:
ties for the college and community.