Newspaper Page Text
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WOLVERINE OBSERVER
December, 1959
The Wolverine Observer Staff
1959-60
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Editor
Managing Editor
Sports Editor
Business Manager
Circulation Manager _
Staff Photographer
Typists
-Wayman B. Shiver, Jr.
Eloise Gay
—Calvin Mathes
..Jerome Bullard
. Ernest Coleman
James Foster
Evelyn H. Alford
Ella Flowers
Charles Lawson, Ester Kellem, Ida Jackson, Betty Anthony
Faculty Advisors JMrs. Louise T. Hollowell, Chairman
Dr. B. J. Farmer, Mr. George T. Johnson,
Miss Vera Benton, Miss Ola Adams
An Observation of An Observer
Certain situations cannot long exist without having to, be brought
to the attention of the public. The public, in this case, is comprised of
the Morris Brown family. The situation is the plight of our college news
organization.
The Wolverine Observer is said to be the voice of the students of
M.B.C. Evidently our students don’t care to use their voices. The Morris
Brown family is obviously not aware that its voice almost has laryn
gitis, meaning of course, that the paper is on the brink of being
silenced. What is the reason for this? The reason, dear Brownites, is
entirely your own making!
The paper has been reduced to a staff of six, of which only four
are active. The others hold honorary titles. The burdens are intolerable
for these four people. From a bystander’s point of view, the plight of
four people doing practically all the things that must be done to get
a newspaper out (they are too numerous to be listed here) may seem
negligible. Rest assured that the task is not an easy one. Enough of
the plight of the four.
The situation that must come to a halt is the neglect of the col
lege newspaper. The majority of the Brownites seem to take the paper
for granted. Practically no one thinks of the Wolverine Observer until
it is out. Those few who mention it in passing only remark upon the
length of time between issues. To determine the reason for that, they
might read this article again carefully.
To remedy this situation, someone might become more aware of
their press. Of course, being q student of a college, the Brownite does
not need to be told this, only to be reminded. We will need your
support of the paper in the forms of student news item contributions,
faculty cooperation, news staff members, and most certainly, support
from the present staff members. Don’t let the voice become silenced.
Remember that the four workers may become too weary to carry on
under such circumstances.
IS MORRIS BROWN FOR YOU?
By W. F. CARMICHAEL
Unfortunately, there are a few individuals on our campus who
behave badly, even after having been here two or three years. It has
been said that college isn’t for everyone and Morris Brown surely isn’t
for these individuals. Our school has a rich heritage and a good reputa
tion. This reputation is too valuable to be sacrificed because of two or
three students who refuse to conform to standards of good conduct.
Frequently, visitors are on our campus. The impression the stu
dent body makes on the visitors will influence the permanency of our
good reputation. It has been stated that what takes years to build can
be destroyed in one moment. Unfortunately, a few undersirable in
dividuals on our campus can destroy the reputation of our college,
which has taken years to build, by giving visitors the wrong impression.
It would be a calamity indeed if visitors would visit the Co-op
while the employees go into the kitchen, and observe these misfits.
A visitor would likely see one such person slipping behind the counter
stealing ice-cream and still others stealing sodas.
There can be no excuse for such behavior. Our school’s reputation
is too valuable to allow a few dishonest people to destroy it.
These students may have good academic records, but high scholar
ship cannot compensate for the lack of character. Students who place
a higher premium upon scholarship than they do upon character should
not be permitted to graduate from Morris Brown College.
Brainpower Is Our
Most Vital Resource
Equal Rights As Viewed From Here
By EUGENE BRYANT
Presently, the whole nation is faced with a great issue. No where
in the pages of history has there been a hotter issue. Yes, I am talking
about Equal Rights. This issue has proven to be the hottest since the
creation of the world. The talk of Equal Rights has the whole nation
in a turmoil.
The time has come when the experiment is to be
made whether the United States is to be emanci
pated and rendered happy, or whether the whole
nation shall groan and travail together in pain. If it
had been designed by God to establish a powerful
nation in the full enjoyment of equal rights, where
all the energies of man might find full scope and
excitement and on purpose to show the world by one
great experiment man’s capabilities, where should
such an experiment be made than in these United
States ?
The light of “Equal Rights” shall throw its beams over the highest
mountains and beyond the waves of the seas and shine into the darkest
corners of the earth and be comprehended. The light shall awaken
hope, desire, and effort, and produce revolutions until all men enjoy
equal rights.
Floods of obstacles have been poured upon the flame of Equal
Rights, but they can no more extinguish them than they can extinguish
the flames of the Sun. These flames will continue to burn until the
mountain of discrimination explodes like great earthquakes. Then the
trumpet of freedom will sound and the debased millions will leap from
under the “dust, dirt and stones” of discrimination with thundering
voices and enjoy equal rights as God intended for every man to have.
WHITHER KENYA!
By APOLLO A. WAKIAGA
Note: Continued from last issue.
(This article does not in any way reflect the ideas or policy of the
editorial staff.)
Africans have been told-that their demand for FREEDOM is pre
mature and meaningless. They have been told by some self-appointed
clique that all of them who assemble for political meetings arc ignorant
fools who are fed on lies and untruths. In other words, they are being
told by the self-appointed nationalist leaders that they do not know
what they want. They mean to say that Africans do not know that they
are ruled by the British; that they do not know that the whites have
greater value in Kenya; that they do not know that their children go
hungry and grow up illiterate; that their wives suffer from lack of
medical care; and that, in old age, they have no security. These and
many other things that happen to them daily are said by the imperialist
agents to be lies and untruths. It is not for me to judge all this. I leave
it upon everyone to decide for himself whether the imperialists or the
nationalists are right. There is no reason why you should not form
your own opinion, but there should be a full faith and confidence in the
intelligence of the comman man in Africa. There is no reason to be
lieve that an African has to go to school to know the injustice com
mitted against him or the price he pays for colonialism and European
domination.
Africans want self-government today. To suggest that an African
should wait for even another day is to imply a lack of confidence in the
African and to submit to European allegations of African inferiority
and incapacity. What sort of government is in Kenya now? Is is
better than what is predicted under African rule? Africans would
rather govern themselves and make their own mistakes, and learn
from experience, than to wait another decade and continue to see their
country misgoverned by foreigners.
The nationalists may be accused of racialism and extremism. They
are flattered by these accusers. The nationalists in Kenya dedicate
themselves to the African cause, and if this meets with those accusa
tions, then they are prepared to continue in their present efforts.
When the Kenya European settlers begin to pat the nationalists on the
back and call them good boys, the nationalists will know that some
thing must have gone wrong.
Therefore, in Kenya, African Nationalists do not accept multi
racialism or partnership, but they offer those foreigners who choose
to stay in Kenya a hand of friendship in terms of complete and un
diluted democracy based on the fact that Kenya is an African country
and, as such, belongs to Africans.
A Bid of African Nationalism
By WILLIAM GORDON
Note: Continued from last issue.
I saw more public school integration in the Congo than I have seen
in any of our Southern States. It was commonplace to see Africans
operating intricate machines in the Congo and working at highly
skilled jobs.
You can’t dig education out of
the earth. There’s only one place
where business and industry can
get the educated men and women
so vitally needed for future prog-
'ess. That’s from our colleges and
universities.
Today these institutions are
doing their best to meet the need,
but they face a crisis. The demand
for brains is increasing fast, and
so is the pressure of college ap
plications.
More money must be raised each
year to expand facilities, bring
faculty salaries up to an adequate
standard, provide a sound educa
tion for the young people who need
and deserve it,
As a practical business measure,
help the colleges or universities of
your choice—now! The returns will
be greater than you think.
President Speaks
(Continued from Page 1)
To appraise how Negro potential
can be fully developed therefore
requires consideration of a whole
complex of factors, including the
structure and funtioning of the
Negro family and community and
the values and behavior of both
Negroes and whites, as well as the
present state of and future pros
pects for his educational and eco
nomic opportunities. Each facet is
inseparably connected with all of
the others.
Give Me That Old
Morris Brown Spirit
By DELORIS P. HILL
As we roll back the golden
blanket of time and look at the
Brownites of yesterday, we find
that we have something in com
mon, namely, that “Old Morris
Brown Spirit!” My definition for
that Old Morris Brown Spirit is
that spirit which makes one hold
his head high at the thought of be
ing a Brownite; that spirit which
has pushed the Morris Brown Wol
verines to such wonderful victories
in the past; that spirit which event
ually turns to love for Morris
Brown.
For the freshmen who have not
found the Morris Brown Spirit, I
would like to join in along with
our student body and sing to them:
“Give me that Old Morris Brown
Spirit”
“Give me that Old Morris Brown
Spirit.”
Voter Voices iSound
Louder Than Lobbies
After passage of a new labor
law in the last session of Con
gress, Opinion Research Corpora
tion compared its provisions
against polls of what people want
ed in a new labor law.
The comparison showed that a
majority of U. S. citizens, includ
ing union members, had wanted
legislative controls as strong or
stronger on each point covered by
the bill.
ORC concluded that Congress
passed the bill in response to the
avalanche of mail received from the
public and in spite of the strong
opposition of lobbyists in Wash
ington.
“One of the plainest lessons from
this experience,” said ORC, “is that
political action begins at home.
Lobbyists are hard put to make
their point against the articulate
voice of the voters in the grass
roots.”
A Lesson Not
Learned
Foreign competition, heightened
by the widening difference between
U. S. and foreign wages, has fret
ted the AFL-CIO into changing its
traditional stand on trade. The
former free-traders now want
tariffs and quotas to be brought
to bear when the domestic market
and domestic jobs are threatened.
Further, they resolved in San
Francisco that the U. S. ought to
step in and ease the plight of un
ion members whose jobs have gone
because foreign workers now
make products that the unions
themselves have priced out of the
market.
In their data, the AFL-CIO
bosses have fingered the wage dif
ferential as the reason for lost
markets, which it clearly is. Then
they passed another resolution,
supporting an increase in the fed
eral minimum wage law from one
dollar an hour to one dollar and
twenty-five cents, which would
further widen that differential.
What the AFL-CIO wants is
plain. It’s a “havable-eatable”
cake.
In conclusion, let me suggest
three things. One is that while ex
panding economic opportunities are
essential, new opportunities by
themselves will have little value
unless Negroes are adequately pre
pared to take advantage of them.
Another is that preparation for
one’s life’s work is a cumulative
process that begins in earliest
childhood and involves the total
life of the individual, not only his
formal education and training. The
final conclusion is that much of the
responsibility for improving the
Negro’s preparation for earning a
good living and for achieving a
good life falls on the Negro com
munity itself, and that includes
each one of us.
But, South of the Congo, in Cen
tral Africa conditions are different.
This is the beginning of white
nationalism. Here is where the
white settler in Africa begins to
take root and has moved itself in
position of direct competition with
the African. On the Copperbelt in
Northern Rhodesia, the job above
that of the semi-skilled laborer.
More than half of the near three
million Africans in Nyasaland im
migrate to South Africa and other
parts of Africa to work.
The limitations on the freedom
of Africans, imposed by entrenched
white nationalism, have caused the
more thickly populated African
country of Nyasaland, part of the
Federation, to revolt. Last January,
1959, more than 50 Africans were
killed and hundreds injured. Sev
eral hundred have been arrested
in the Federation.
Over in Kenya, conditions have
been modified by Mau Mau activi
ties of 1954. Before this non-whites
lived and sweated under restric
tions only slightly less severe than
those in Central Africa. Kenya also
has its white nationalism, 50,000
whites, out of a population of
7,000,000 people. The more than
two million Africans in Kenya are
growing in population.
But African nationalism is not
rooted in fear, hysteria and inse
curity like white nationalism. It is
not rooted in the doctrine of su
premacy nor nursed in an atmos
phere of hatred.
Even in the Union of South Af
rica, the African is more concerned
with the future instead of brood
ing in the past. His nationalism is
democratic, unemotional and even-
temepered. In the voice of one of
(Continued on Page 6)