Newspaper Page Text
Page 8
The Maroon Tiger
May, 1968
BY CARTHUR L. M. DRAKE
A deep injustice by the American press has
caused me to pen my final article of the year.
The American press has created a monster
which has caused noliticians and sociologists
to toil night and day. I call it the hust
ler’s carnival; others call it a riot.
The past four summers have seen grotesque
outbursts of violence, destruction and loot
ing in many , of the nation’s major cities.
Many businesses and homes suffered great dam
age . Not only did most stores suffer a phy
sical damage, they also suffered an inventory
damage. Most of these “riots” are sparked
by some act of white racism. The black
pseudo-facist then appears and publi
cizes, many times falsely, the situation or
incident. At the onset of the black pseudo
racist’s performance his audience is usually
the street corner hustlers and thugs. This
statement, of course, finds more truth in
large ghettoes like Harlem and Watts. The
audience, subsequently, becomes mixed with
more moderately concerned Negroes who are
watching to see “what’s happening.” The
speaker not only fools the honestly concerned
Negroes who then sees the situation as a thun
dering blow agains his race, but he fools the
American press also.
Once the property damaging starts, the
hustlers and looters go to work draining the
inventories of the department stores. This is
nothing unusual for them because looting and
stealingis a daily routine for them. The “riot”
is just an avenue by which they operate on a
larger scale. When news of this outburst of
public disorder reaches the American press, it
is rationalized as a “riot” caused by Negroes’
resentment of white racism. Politicians and
sociologists go on record ascribing the lack of
sufficient civil rights legislation and the degra
dation of black people as the cause of the riot.
One looter was quoted as saying, “Hell, I
don’t give a damn about no civil rights,”
when asked if he felt whether congress had
passed enough civil rights legislation. Another
looter was asked why he didn’t get a job and
work rather than steal from others. He
answered, “Man are you sick in the head?”
Even though it is often quite obvious that a
large part of the rioters use the riot as a
means to reach their personal ends, the true
situation is never reported. The paper will
read, “Negroes Riot in Protest of White
Racism.” It should read “A Group of Negro
Hoodlums Go On Looting Spree.” By not
reporting what actually happens, the Ameri
can press actually starts the real protest by
giving the general public the idealized con
cept of what has happened. The sincere
Negro then accepts this concept and falsely
believes that frustrations due to social degra
dation were actually the motivating factors.
However, one cannot argue the fact that
society breeds these looters and hustlers.
Nevertheless, their immediate motivating
force was not frustration. They were motiva
ted by the money that they would get from
their “hot” items.
A rioting people, motivated by frustration
of social degradation, will not tear up their
own community and leave their enemy’s un
harmed. They will not loot a store for gro
ceries and forget to burn the credit books.
They will not burn their own community and
not burn the whole town. They will not rob
Black Power Symposium Ends
With Questions At Wabash
“We speak of violence; others who do not speak of violence do it.” With this statement Prof. Finley Camp
bell of Morehouse College opened the final session of the symposium on “Black Power and the White Student”
at Wabash College. The meeting had been scheduled for Baxter Hall, but due to the large turnout ol students
and local residents, the meeting was moved to the Chapel.
Prof. Campbell told the group that the problem lacing each and every person truly interested in the race situa
tion is “what do we do now?”
He suggested four major areas of need in the Black community which should be taken care of now. One
concerned renovation and transformation of housing as it now exists. He suggested that the federal govern
ment buy up tenements from the owners and build new developments which could eventually belong to the
black renter.
FESTIVAL CINEMA TWO
It is with great pleasure that the Festival
Cinema announces the opening of its new theatre,
Festival Cinema Two. Located on Fair Street at the
renovated Ritz Theatre, Festival Cinema Two will
continue and extend the standard of fine films
established by the Festival Cinema during its first
year and one-half of operation.
We at Festival Cinema Two are proud to be able
to share with you our interest and belief in film as
a vital art form. Perhaps the most misunderstood
and unrecognized art form, film is today the most
immediate and personal form of expression and com
munication.
One must recall the early days of film. It is not
ironic that Charlie Chaplin emerged during the
greatest period of immigration in American history.
Millions of people, alone with a communication
problem in a strange land, were able to identify
with and feel sympathy toward“the little tramp”
the beginning of a universal picture language.
Today, the Rockefeller Foundation has awarded to
Stan VanDerBeek, an avant-garde filmmaker, a
grant to explore and extend the possibilities of
film as a universal language. Film, it is felt, is the
key to bridging the information gap of the emerg
ing nations.
Between the silent classics of Chaplin and the
proposed movie dromes of VanDerBeek lies the
history of film. Festival Cinema Two plans to
present the best of the fascinating history. Empha
sis will be placed upon the film as modem art
form and, of course, its powerful effect as social
commentator. The classics of Fellini, Antonioni,
Renais, Kurosawa, Bergman and Bunuel have result
ed in the experimentation with film that has led to
the formation of the New American Cinema -
commonly known as “underground film.” Today,
more and more painters and writers are finding
film a stimulating and challenging medium of ex
pression. Painters and sculptors such as Robert
Whitman, Robert Rauchenberg, and Andy Warhol
have successfully utilized film, and now writers
like Norman Mailer and LeRoi Jones are working
directly with film. As a further advancement,
the Festival Cinema recently produced and presented
“Birth of a Plaid Child,” an original mixed-media
theatrical production that combined film with the
theatrical techniques of acting, mime, dance, sound,
and lighting as an extension of the art form. We
are also involved in actual film production.
Festival Cinema Two is going to present the
best of this exciting medium. We want to share
with you, what we have to offer and hope that our
excitement and enthusiasm will be mutually reci-
procative. Festival Cinema Two hopes the theatre
will be used for a forum of free thought, film semi
nars, and laboratories. The opportunity will be
there.
Festival Cinema Two believes that film educa
tion should begin at an early age. Today the 8mm.
camera is replacing the pen as writing instrument.
Toward this filmic education we are establishing a
special Saturday children’s matinee where only the
finest films for youngsters will be shown. Admis
sion for these performances will be 35 cents. The
possibility also exists for a series of Monday night
musical concerts featuring Rock, Blues, and other
musical forms.
Festival Cinema Two will open about the first
week in March. We look forward to the opportunity
of being and working with you.
the furniture store and leave the bank next
door unharmed. If one examines the situa
tion when “riots” erupt, he will notice that
the beginning participants, in most cases thus
far, have been the unconcerned black pseudo
racist, the corner hustler. However, before
long the serious and concerned Negro appears
with his acceptance of the idealized concept
of the situation given by tire American press.
The hustler’s carnival thus takes on the mean
ing given by the American press, politicians,
and the sociologists. What had started out to
be a “shopping spree” has consequently be
come a serious protest, although not violent.
In all fairness to the civil rights struggle, 1
must say that this article is not characteristic
of all “riots” in the past.
He asserted that a person living in sub-normal
housing infested with roaches and rats has no de
sire to invest what little money he has into renovat
ing property which doesn’t belong to him.
Another suggestion Campbell made was the for
mation of a Youth Employment Service in commu
nities of 100,000-or-more population. This YES
program could utilize the natural leadership in black
communities and enable Negro youths “to feel like
useful members of the society they live in.”
“These young people don’t want ‘nothing’ jobs;
they want jobs where they can earn their money,
have responsibility and be somebody,” Campbell
said.
He also suggested a training program for the old
er Negro to enable this group of people to live better.
He explained that every dollar poured into a
project such as the above mentioned would come
back to the community which invested it. By
raising the standard of living of a black community,
providing jobs for the people and training otherwise
uneducated Negros, the dollars they would be able
to earn would come back to the community as they
bought homes, autos, furniture and food, Campbell
claimed.
He also asked for preventive and curative mea
sures to combat serious health problems facing the
Negro in the ghetto.
The last part of his answer on “what to do now”
concerned education. He told of the great waste of
natural resources this country has allowed and said
black brain power is being wasted the same way.
Campbell said, “Governor Lurleen Wallace is
dying of cancer. Maybe in some young black mind
is the cure for that cancer, but because her husband
is one who works against equality, that cure won’t
be found by that black mind because the education
opportunity isn’t there.”
He told the assemblage that there are many way s the
individual can help. One way would be to move into
a black community and offer help through programs
such as VISTA.
He told the students that they could organize onthe
Wabash campus and dedicate themselves to libera
tion of the black community by making campus
activities and fraternities open to anyone, regardless
of race or religion.
Campbell said the students could participate in a
“Gram in,” which would mean every interested per
son would send a telegram to the President or his
congressman supporting the Poor Peoples March in
Washington.
(continued on Page 10)
BLACK POWER SYMPOSIUM CONDUCTED HERE
Following chapel service at Wabash College Thurs
day morning, groups of students and faculty mem
bers stood discussing thoughtsand ideas which were
expressed during part of the Black Power Sympo
sium, which ended Thursday night at Baxter Hall.
Left to right are — Walter Dancy, junior at More
house College; Ron Clark, junior at Wabash from
Indianapolis; David Britt, member of the English
faculty at Wabash; Finley C. Campbell, member of
English Department at Morehouse; Jack Clarke,
junior at Wabash, and Charles Burris, freshman at
Morehouse.
(Journal-Review Photo by Gaildene Duncan)