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MAROON TIGER
Wednesday, December 18, 1968
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The Editor Speaks I
I By Carthur Drake, Editor |
Destroy! For What?
A recent question among our more radical Black Brothers
around campus has been, when is Morehouse College going to have
its revolution. People have been observing our campus with aten-
tive eyes in anticipation of some sort of student
revolt by Morehouse students. They are won
dering why we haven’t occupied the administration
building. Why haven’t we had a boycott of all
Western oriented classes? Why haven’t we burned
down Sale Hall? Ahd why haven’t we got
ten rid of the dean? • Implications have been
made that we are too complacent and consequenlty
our gains for the students will never be achieved.
Carthur Drake ^ has also been implied that the Morehouse Col
lege student body is in fear of the present ad
ministration and that we fear confrontation. We have been accused
of being too non-militant and failing to pursue our demands.
Perhaps the authors of these accusations are a bit presump
tuous. These people obviously know little of the internal frame
work of our Student Government Association. These are people
who judge action and militancy by rock-throwing, burning down
buildings, occupation of administration buildings, and class boy
cotts. They seem to think that this type of action is the only
mehod of achieving one’s goals. They believe that Nelson, Student
Body president, should lead us to Harkness Hall, the administration
building, to take what we want rather than demanding first. What
these people fail to understand is that rock-throwing and other
useless expenditure of energy are unnecessary when one's demands
are met by merely demanding.
The Morehouse College Student Body has groomed its Student
Government Association into the most powerful student organization
on campus. We have power that we should have had long ago. Thus
far, this organization has been completely successful in obtain
ing its demands. All these demands were achieved through the
system. Consequently, it has been unnecessary to destroy the sys
tem which has constantly yielded to change. A good strategist
chooses his weapon after he has studied his enemy.
When Clark, Morris Brown, and Spelman students were busy
expending energy by boycotting, sitting on hard floors, and staying
out in the cold just to break a curfew, Morehouse students were
calmly exercising the power of their Student Government Asso
ciation to achieve the same goals. To avoid misinterpretation, let
me assert here that perhaps the lattter methods were necessary.
I bet you people never thought of looking at the situation this
way. Did you, brothers? BE COOL MAN. Don’t be so quick to be
unrational. It’s not good for Black People.
Robert Smith
44 Help The Brother
Less Fortunate 99
The big black thing now seems for one to “Identify.” Hordes
of black people in the midst of race awareness have suddenly wanted
to express a devotion to race with “help the
Brother less fortunate” as their battle cry. One
way of doing this is the setting up of tutoring pro
grams in the United States, especailly in the At
lanta University Complex.
These “Big Brother” programs are usually
Sponsored by various social organizations and
sometimes by private donors. The tutor usually
helps the student with his academic weak spots
and homework, and a special session is used for
cultural enrichment, all proving to be beneficial
Take for instance the tutoring project at Washington High
School that involves some Morehouse students.
When the program was first started, the sponsoring organiza
tion (whose name I will not mention for fear of incrimination of
the entire organization) printed a leaflet to explain the program to
the prospective tutors. In essence it said . . give impetus and mo
tivation to youths of the 9th and 10th grades . . . students are low
performers , . . important to increase their expectation ...”
After hearing this the Morehouse Brothers were all in favor of
participating because they wanted to “help the less fortunate Brothers.”
Things even seemed better with the mention of a salary. Upon meet
ing with the students chosen at Washington High School, many of
the Brothers were disappointed. Chosen were mostly junior honor
society candidates having B or A averages. These are “LOW PER
FORMERS”? Anyone half-blind can see what has happened. With
the money apportioned for a tutorial program to aid under-achievers,
Washington High School chose its best students to enjoy it.
I see nothing wrong with a program for motivating advanced
sudents if that is the purpose and goal, but when Black People start
cheating like that on other Black People, I don’t feel quite too
black and proud.
This summer while working with a social enterprise in Atlanta
I heard a man remark that the numbers weren’t hitting and that he
should join the “social work racket.” At that time, I didn’t know
what he meant.
Now I do.
Robert T. Smith
to the tutee.
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
Harold McKelton
Rid The
Its Dead
Student Body President Nelson
Taylor has finally made a move
to improve
Morehouse with
all the drive
and vigor and
sincerity that the
students are re
ady to give.
From certain e-
vents on cam
pus the student
Harold McKelton seems to be
more . than willing and ready
to “turn the school upside
down in order to get it right
side up,” to adapt an old cliche
used in civil rights circles. In
other words, someone is tired
of being patient, or of allowing
the same old dusty flaws of
century’s age to jut their ruddy
heads into the next. Protocol will
not be an obstacle. “Proper chan
nels” will not be a barrier. The
Morehouse student body has fi
nally realized that Morehouse
cannot, and will not, be what
she has been in the past. Alas!
It is time to rid the tree of its
dead limbs!
The Student Council, and
those appointed to head the va-
Tree Of
Limbs
rious projects and committees,
have no better place to begin
their pruning than with the bar
ren and fruitless personnel who,
like so many dead limbs, hang
on to the mother tree—neither
giving life nor accepting. These
faculty-personnel review boards
make their move: the useless
personnel must go.
“Why?” Yes, there is always
the hollow query that is always
consumed by concrete fact. The
“why” is consumed in the fact
that some emasculating individu
al waiting at the ticket door in
sists—sometimes bodily—that a
student tuck his shirt in, for the
sake of decency, mama, and the
flag. (Ha! Ha!)
The “why” is consumed in fact
again, when a brother comes to
Morehouse and is metaphorically
but most really divested of his
genitals as a glib-tongued, matri
archal, demeaning, rude “secre
tary” tries to reduce him to pre
adolescent maturity. Yes, there
is always the hollow query, and
there are always the concrete
facts. Alas! It is time to rid the
tree of its dead limbs!
Bryce Smith
On Being A Positive Negative
I would like to thank those Morehouse students who have read
my editorials and who have responded to their contents. The pur
pose of my editorials is to create a meaningful
dialogue between the vocal voices of the Black
Revolution and the too silent majority of students
in this institution. My technique is the same as
Stokely Carmichael’s and Charles Hamilton’s in
their book Black Power: “We start with the as
sumption that in order to get the right answer,one
must pose the right question . . . Anyhing less
than clarity, honesty and forcefulness perpetuates
the centuries of sliding over, dressing u’p, and
soothing down the hopes and demands of an op
pressed black people.”
One comment concerning my editorials was that I am “too
negative.” I confess to being negative. I am negative toward those
who have embraced the revolution as a trade and black people as
their prey. I am negative toward those who would define “Thinking
Black” as not thinking at all. I hope I will always be negative toward
the ideologies listed above.
Allow me to show you my positive side. I believe positively
that being black is a gift of nature and not a curse from God. I be
lieve positively in freedom and have learned that unless I am
free I am nothing. We have seen entire nations lose their freedom.
Black brothers have died for it; we must now live for it! I believe
positively that an oppressed people have the right and duty to
rebel and to create a new order, tempered by justice and nurtured
in tolerance and equality. This and more do I believe positively and
I have resigned myself to positively work for, live for, struggle for
and if need be to die for. I invite you to join me.
Bryce Smith
Student Power
By W. Grayson Mitchell
Student Power comes out of
conflict, not a polite exchange of
opposing views. It comes out of
military-like confrontation be
tween the collegian and the col
lege administration. In keeping
with patterns of conventional
warfare, the side exerting more
force and wielding more press
ure exits as the gallant victor.
The administration quells the
rage and expels the militants.
The students overthrow the sys
tem and impose self-rule.
On the campuses, collegians
are clustering in small groups
and voicing their criticisms and
complaints about such things as
the prevailing student-admnistra-
tion rapport, the regulations and
laws of the institution, the equity
and justice of the entire system
at large. More often the “tired,”
“incompetent,” “stupid” and “out
of touch” deans come to shoul
der the blame for the existing
conditions and upon some instan
ces, the “power-bound,” and
“inconsiderate” boards of trust
ees become worthy characters for
substitution.
For several light-years now,
people have been caucusing, be
coming ridiculously cheap. With
standing the natural law that there
exists a reason for everything, this
“talk-a-thon” and this waging war
bears no exception. The reason
behind it all is POWER!! The
ruler and the “to-be-ruled.” The
Big Cat and the little mouse.
The times have bred a new
specie of collegian, a collegian
who no longer finds contentment
in administrative paternalism,
centralized rule and government,
hierarchial mandates. Four fun-
filled years of chapels, Saturday
night hops, bonfires, and a pat
on the head at graduation time
signifying that you have been a
good little boy—gee those were
the good old days.
I am here to tell you that
things have changed and “the
good old days” ain’t good no
more. He wants an equal
hand in policy-making, an
equal hand in disciplinary actions,
an equal hand in curriculum de
velopment, an equal hand in any
and all parts of the college com
munity that affects him and his
education, indirectly and directly.
The new collegian is becoming
more and more cognizant of the
fact that the college was created
and is operated solely for him.
Contrary to what floats down
from the “Big Building”, the
college cannot exist without the
new collegian, and it is exclus
ively dependent upon him for
survival.
It is the task of the new col
legians to unite and to become
a solidarity force. The time has
come to procure a strong voice
in the affairs and the functioning
of the institution. Through stra
tegic confrontaton and negotia
tion, the administration must be
made to acknowledge and recog
nize the collegiate body as a
powerful, intelligent, loyal, and
ruling entity within the academic
sphere. Through means deemed
most forceful and most tactful,
the “student-administration” re
lationship must be placed in the
proper perspective, with both
parties having equal power and
equal strength. With this ac
complished, the educational pro
cess will then be less restrictive
and less degenerating.