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The Organ of Student Expression”
Vol. 66, No. 6
Morehouse College, Atlanta
Wednesday, January 30, 1991
Rapheal Warnock Speaks
Morehouse Students React
to the Gulf Situation
By William J. Carter
Morehouse chapel assistants
sponsored a peace vigil at the
King Chapel, criticizing the
United States’ contradictions
on peace, and challenging Atlan
ta University Center students
to get involved in the protest.
The peace vigil at More
house’s King Chapel took place
Tuesday, January 15,1991, and
began at 11 p.nj. ending at 12
a.m. which was the U.N.
deadline set for Iraq to release
Kuwait.
Many of the students in the
Atlanta University Center said
the deadline of January 15th
was not appropriate for a day
that could result in war since it
was King’s birthday.
The peace vigil was a way for
AUC students to express their
opposition to war.
In front of the chapel, the
King statue was draped in red
and there was a coffin placed
before the stage, to represnt
what war would result in if it
were to break out.
Rapheal Warnock, a minister
at the chapel, was the key
speaker, delivering a speech
that criticized the United States
for what he referred to as “an
ugly and hidious crack” in its
bell of liberty and justice.
“This country’s ideals of
freedom and human rights have
been disarmed tonight,” War
nock said. And although it is
King’s birthday, we are stan
ding on the threshold of war.”
Warnock said that the world
was in need of a day of jubilee.
He said in order for that day
to begin, there must first be “a
sounding of the trumpet...”
The world is in desperate
need of young men and women
who are willing to blow the
trumpet and sound alone,” War
nock said.
Some students felt the peace
vigil was a good source of
spiritual strength so that people
could cope with the. possibility
of war.
But students also felt the
peace vigil alone .could not in
fluence students to really get in
volved in protests of a possible
war.
“I think it’s good that we are
using the spiritual element to
encourage student involvement
in the protest,” said Imar
Huchins, a junior at Morehouse.
“But I also feel we need to
take a mental, and physical ap
proach to the protest so we can
really raise consciousness,” he
said.
Other students felt that
movements such as sit-ins and
marches, those that followed
the nonviolent protests of Dr.
King should be used in future
campus movements against the
war.
“This is just a start,” said
Rodney Floyd, student body
president. “We didn’t react to
the veto of the Civil Rights bill,
but now we’re reacting to the
Persian Gulf Crisis following the
nonviolent protest methods of
Dr. King.”
Organizers of the peace vigil
said there would be further pro
test against the crisis in the
Gulf, and that students should
come out to take part in pro
testing an event that will affect
them one way or another.
Why Should Blacks Fight In the Gulf?
By Halvor Parris III
It appears to amaze some
Americans and aggravate
others the negative voice that
African Americans have voiced
as the war in the Persian Gulf
intensifies. In the past eight to
10 weeks, blacks opinion has
moved from 43 percent approval
of President Bush’s policy in an
early poll to 23 percent in the
most recently published poll. In
both polls there was a great
margin (30 to 40 points) between
the black and white rates of
approval.
In assessing the reasons for
this difference, a wide range of
possibilities come in to play.
Although blacks feel that
Saadam Hussein’s aggression
was wrong, they feel that the
president’s policy was worse.
Blacks feel that the war is plac
ing them at an unacceptable
level of vulnerability and
deepening the nature of their
disadvantages. In addition, the
Department of Defense admits
that 27 percent of the troops in
Saudi Arabia are black, conjur
ing up images and fears of
another Vietnam, where the
black casualty rate reached
astronomical proportions.
Blacks are also leary of the
motivations for the war. If it is
to prove the United States is
the big brother of the world
then the price is too high. Also,
a question that blacks have
pondered is if the United States
is the big brother to the world,
then where was and is big
brother when his brothers and
sisters in South Africa are be
ing so cruely oppressed. If it is
oil the United States stands to
lose — Angola and other parts
of Africa are ready to supply
more than the 7% of oil that
America received from Kuwait. *»
And if it is to develop a new
regime in a post-Cold War
world, then why do it with a
war. No time would be better
than to experiment with
methods of resolving interna
tional conflicts peacefully.
One thing we do know is that
because of the war (especially in
December) billions of dollars are
now being made as a result of
higher oil prices. And we all
know that the poor, who will
fight this War, will not profit
from this nor the war itself.
Many Americans feel that
blacks should overlook all of
these considerations and ap
prove the president’s actions in
the name of loyalty to the nation
in a crisis. They want blacks to
display a sort of “blind loyalty”
and “patriotism.”
However we should remind
Americans of blacks unwaiver-
ing patriotism in the times of
crisis. Since the civil war they
have long felt the need to
demonstrate their unassailable
patriotism in order to prove
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