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CAMPAIGN 74
By HENRY HACKNEY
On April 5 the More
house College students will
be electing their next stu
dent government associa
tion officers. The attention
is mainly centered around
the seats of president and
vice-president.
Since the middle of last
semester a few politically
inclined students have been
talking about the date of
the fifth day of the fourth
month of this present year.
Tickets have formed
thoughts have generated from
the minds of these men of
Morehouse for the purpose
of forming their so-called
platforms. This time cam
paign literature started
rolling back in January
Roger Bruce, a candidate
for the president of the
small school’s student go
vernment started early.
He began by printing news
letters weekly telling of
all his great accomplish
ments, who is supposedly
supporting him and what
he says he can do for dear
old Morehouse. The junior
political science major
highlighted his platform
with the idea of more stu
dent activities, coed visi
tation, and a speedier re
gistration process. He ends
up by telling of the pro
mise, better communi
cation between the S.G.A.
and the neighboring com
munity. Last week the long
haired politician told the
citizens of the 107 year-
old institution of a typi
cal week at Morehouse. This
included a tournament night,
a fraternity, club and chess
night, and a movie night.
He also again told the stu
dents of Morehouse of all
the Black leaders that he
brought to Morehouse. The
politicians would have come
anyway because some major
national and state elec
tions were coming up. He
seems to be nothing more
than an opportunist.
Stan Denton, a junior psy
chology major and editor of
the Maroon Tiger before
he decided to go into
politics is another candi
date for the chief execu
tive of the Morehouse SGA.
His platform was a little
deeper than the preceding
one . This bit of adver
tisement tells of how the
students should have the
right to analyze the edu
cational services that they
receive. The piece of cam
paign literature then goes
to say tha the role of a
S. G. A. President should
be a person who has a
grasp of the school’s de
dication to solve them.
He then tells the students
whether the student go
vernment association shall
be functional or shall it
continue its same traditio
nal ways. The young poli
tician’s platform also de
fines what characteristics
a qualified leader should
possess.
“It is imperative that
a capable, qualified lead
er emerge not a politician,
not a mechanic, and defi
nitely, not an egotist,’’ the
piece of information pass
ed out by the Students for
Stan stated.
The third candidate that
has decided to enter the
mad presidential race is
Charles Stodghill, a Junior
history major that has
been elected twice before
to serve on a S. G. A.
position. He was elected
vice-president of the
S. G. A. under the Le-
bron Morgan Administra
tion. Stodghill says he thinks
he is the best man for
the job because of his past
experiences of the SGA.
“You come to know the
workings of the job. ’’
The fourth candidate is
Parris Phillips, a twenty-
five year old sophomore
veteran of the Vietnam
War. He served about a
year in the Far East.
Mr. Phillips says that
representing the whole total
student body is one of his
major ideas. He also says
that most of the ideas should
be taken from the students.
‘Being the way politics
is running on the outside,
we should be getting tired
of promises people make
and don’t come through af
ter election. ”
The sophomore political
science major states that
if he wins it will prove
that the students want a
voice in their student go
vernment.
The last candidate who
decided to enter the race
just a few days ago is
our current S. G. A. pre
sident, Lebron C. Morgan.
Mr. Morgan says in spite
of the fact that the student
Continued on page 3
THE MAROON TIGER
Vol.XLVH No.7 Morehouse College April 4, 1974
The Emergency
Land Fund
By STAN DENTON
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The
six institutions and seve
ral thousands of inquiring
minds that comprise the
Atlanta University Center
make it, potentially, one of
the most fertile grounds
in the nation for conduct
ing research relating to the
particular problems of
Blacks and other oppressed
people. This article on the
Emergency Land Fund is
the first of a coming se
ries that shall examine
people and organizations
that are attempting to ac
tualize the potential of the
Center).
Beginning in the 1930’s
and extending up to the pre
sent two important trans
formations took place which
have seriously affected the
destiny of Bla>,k people in
American. One was the
“Great Migration” of -
Blacks from the rural homes
of the South to the Promi
sed Land of the industrial
North. The second deve
lopment was the growth
of agribusiness - the ex
pansion of large, centra
lized ownership of farms
as opposed to small pri
vate ownership.
The two events combin
ed in an almost catastro
phic effect on Black peo
ple. The result was the loss
of ownership of land by
Black farmers to white mo
nopoly agricultural con
cerns. Thus, the amount of
land owned by Blacks has
declined from 15 million
acres in 1900 to 6 million
acres in 1970 with the
rate declining constantly
each year. This phenome
non is distressing to put
it mildly for as an old
expression goes, “a land
less people.”
One man who understands
the black land crisis and is
currently attempting to do
something about it is Joe
Brooks, executive direc
tor of the Emergency Land
Fund.’ ’ All things come
from the land,” Brooks ex
plained. Possessing landis
the first requisite for the
self-sufficiency of a peo
ple.
According to Brooks,
blackpeople possess only
six million acres of land.
“At present we own only
three-tenths of one per
cent of all privately own
ed land in America' des
pite the fact that we con
stitute fifteen per- cent
of the total population, "The -
orectically, we need 267
million acres of land to
equitably represent our
numbers.
The Emergency Land
Fund hopes to help blacks
acquire this additional land
one day. However, the bulk
of its current efforts are
geared towards helping
Black landowners hold on
to what they have. “We
are addressing the “legal”
and illegal tricks played
upon Black landowners and
by the development of a
corp of lawyers, and com
munity workers who can
successfully counter these
practices. Our aim is to
provide black land ow
ners with the necessary in
formation and technical as
sistance which they need
to design land-use pro
grams which will trans
form black landholdings
from economic burdens to
income - yielding masses,”
Brooks said.
The strategy of ELF is
relatively simple. It in
volves loan and grant as
sistance, legal assistance,
participation in tax sales,
and a general education -
program designed to inform
black landowners of the
problems of land loss and
how to prevent it.
ELF currently operates
in the states of Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia, Virginia, and
South and North Carolina.
The organization moved
its national headquarters
from New York to Atlanta
last January. It is located
at 799 Fair Street direc
tly across from the front
gate of Morehouse.
Brooks explains that the
move to Atlanta was made
for two reasons, “Since
Black-owned land is locat
ed in the South we felt it
necessary to be near that
land. We chose the Atlanta
University Center area in
particular because we hope
to offer students a practical
alternative to the theore
tical education that they re
ceive in the classroom.”
At the present time
George Cato and Joseph
Smalls, senior econo
mics majors at Morehouse,
are the only students from
the Center who work with
ELF. However, Brooks for-
sees the organization es
tablishing a land research
institute in the near fu
ture that will be able to
use more students.
Robert Browne, foun
der of the Black Econo
mic Research Center, is
president of the Emergen
cy Land Fund. The organi
zation is supported by pri
vate contributions.