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The Panther
August 25,1980
A number of prominent whites and blacks, in
cluding myself, have organized the Project '80
Coalition For Black Colleges and designated a
day in the fall as Black College Day '80 and the
time to stage a march on Washington. Why?
"Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God,”
said black abolitionist and journalist Ida B.
Wells. That statement sums up the answer. A
more literal response can come from the history
of the alleged desegregation of public black
colleges.
The office of Civil Rights of HEW is
desegregating black colleges in 10 states
because of the Adams suit brought by Jack
Greenberg’s NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
The plan, as carried out, is actually a white
“blitzbrieg" of students and faculties. The black
colleges are being either closed down,
“merged” or "enhanced.” Merged means to
become a white dominated school;
enhancement means to spend the additional
funds to set up programs for whites.
Langston University in Oklahoma is being
closed; Tennessee State is being sub-merged
and Florida A&M Universtiy is being enhanced
for whites. And the black presidents of the latter
two believe they are really helping black people
while embaracing a white mission.
become predominantly white . . . because the
whites feel that if they must integrate they must
control."
Dr. Davis is no longer the president and the
school’s white enrollment has shot up to almost
20 percent. His warning could have applied to
the rest of the "desegregated" black colleges.
Lincoln University in Missouri is now 65
percent white and going into a high white gear.
The slow fade to white has reached the one-
third mark at formerly black Delaware State,
Bowie State and Kentucky State University.
At Tennessee State, thanks to a short-sighted
black president, the so-called merger with the
University of Tennessee - Nashville branch is
looking more like a sub-merger to white
dominance every day.
To date, any merging or enhancing in
“desegregation” plans wipes out or decreases
black control or presence.
Black people are allowing the Office of Civil
Rights of HEW and the plantiff, Jack
Greenberg’s NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to im
plement and oversee this alleged desegregation
scheme in a vacuum.
This process reduces the chances of black
youths getting a college education and violates
the constitutional guarantee of equal access to
an education for blacks.
“77ie office of Civil Rights of HEW is desegretating
black colleges in 10 states because of the Adams
suit brought by Jack Greenberg’s NAACP Legal
Defense Fund
— Brown
Savannah State College (SSC) was “merged”
last year with white Armstrong State, a former
junior college. This year, SSC will graduate
about one-half the blacks it did last year. The
desegregation plan, therefore, has been used as
the prototype for more mergers.
The College of Education at SSC was
"swapped” with the School of Business at
Armstrong State. Of the 1,000 black majors in
education at SSC, 450 followed the school to
Armstrong. The remaining 550 black students
left for other black schools. Of the 1,000 white
business majors, about 145 followed the
program, before they started dropping out.
The black education students are bused to
Armstrong, along with their teachers, to sit in
all-black classes while the Armstrong education
students hold all-white classes in nearby clas
srooms.
I n 1953, West Virginia State was desegregated;
it is now 80 percent white. In 1972, Dr. Lawrence
Davis, the black president of the all-black
Arkansas A&M, warned that the so-called
desegregation plan was harmful to blacks. “It’s
inevitable, just as inevitable as the sun will go
down this evening that that this school will also
In a recentcolumn, I reviewed the plan that is,
thus far, successfully closing Black colleges and
turning the others into majority White
institutions. Also, I ssued a call for help from
anyone interested in stopping this trend.
The response has been overwhelming, so
much so that I am forced to use this column to
respond to such a volume of mail. As a conse
quence, The Project '80 Coalition For Black
Colleges has had to revise upwards the number
expected for the Black College Day '80 fes
tivities.
Those attending the march and rally, in
Washington, D.C. on Monday, September 29,
1980 is being projected to about a half million
and the chances of breaking the attendance
record for the March On Washington in 1963
are good.
Why so much optimism? The volume and
quality of the responses, to begin with, coupled
with some unique and historical firsts. The very
first, to be exact, is the initial event, which will
be observed each year. The spirit of the letters
was typified by one from Oscar R. Spencer of
Camden, New Jersey. "I'm a graduate of a Black
college (Delaware State, May, 1978) and I know
exactly what you’re talking aboutl Please send
me some more information on the destruction
of Black colleges and how I might possibly help
in the solution instead of remaining dormant
and becoming a part of the problem.” Others,
expressing this sentiment were postmarked
Bedford, MA., Philadelphia, St. Louis, Memphis,
Charlotte, D.C., Mobile, Hampton, Detroit,
Greensboro, Youngstown and scores of cities
and towns across America.
Jon Howard, president of Concerned
Students Working Together (C.S.W.T.) at
Albany State College in Georgia, described a
feeling common to the students on Black cam
puses. “I will do almost anything to preserve our
colleges. It is a struggle for a higher education
for the Black race.” And like this student, writer
after writer wanted to know the concept,
strategy, details of the planning and roles they
could play.
The premise of the movement is to stop those
who believe that Black colleges are inferior and
unnecessary. The Office of Civit Rights of the
Department of Education (ED) is destroying
them with seemingly innocent desegregation
plans that neither improve educational op
portunities for Black students nor preserve
these historical institutions. A new climate must
be developed, based on the awareness of in
formed citizens.
The march per se will involve, in competition,
the best marching bands from the 107
predominantly Black colleges. Three divisional
winners will be selected Black College Day ’80
Band. A queen and her court, drawn from the
pool of Black collegequeens, will reign overthe
festivities as Miss Black College Day ’80.
The march will be a march of organizations - a
literal coalition of every fraternal, sororal,
church, civic, student, business, social, athletic,
labor, political and educational group in Black
America. Banners, placards and signs will an
nounce each entity and remind the world that
the educational lifeline of 90 percent of college
- trained Blacks is still alive and well.
T-shirts, worn months before the march, will
become the official memento and fund-raiser to
finance the event, occurring exactly five weeks
and one day before we pick a new Congress and
President on Tuesday, November 4.
Not only will Blacks learn where Carter,
Reagan and Anderson stand with regard to this
crucial issue, but the candidates’ grasp of the is
sue will determine his acceptance to America’s
Black thought leaders.
Other political aspects will include lobbying
every man and woman in Congress on this issue.
Black civil service workers, the backbone of the
federal government, will be asked through their
organization, Blacks In Government (BIG), to
not report to work, but to an activity to preserve
the colleges which made their careers possible.
Howard University, University of D.C. and the
D.C. Public Schools will be asked to suspend
classes in recognition of Black College Day.
Proclamationswill be issued from virtually every
governor and mayor in this nation.
Amid this electrifying backdrop, speaker after
speaker will describe the history and details of
the local attempt, too often successful, to des
troy their college. Reagan, Carter and Anderson
are invited to speak. White organizations are
welcome, but many will be too timid to
participate.
But it’s a long way to autumn and if the Black
College Day ’80 momentum constinues, 90
Black colleges may continue to graduate as
many Blacks as 1500 White colleges. To insure
our future, work through your church, school,
organization or social group. Write The Project
’80 Coalition For Black Colleges, 1501 Broadway,
Suite 2014, N.Y., N.Y. 10036.
Tony Brown is producer of the nationally syndicated
television program "Tony Brown’s Journal.”
He is also one of the national coordinators of
“Black College Day ’80.”