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Page 2 MAROON TIGER Wednesday, December 18, 1968 !>3iiiiiiiimit3iimmniiniMin!miinimimmicii«mimiiamiiiiiiiiiniiiimiiiiin!iiiiiimioiiniiiminiiiimiiiiiHiiiHiiiuin3iiii6 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.