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Editorial Comments
Reagan, Khadafy Playing a Game
Editor Speaks
by Kathy Lightfoot
It's the end of another /ear
and what a year!
Being an Editor-in-Chief has
been an experience in itself.
You experience the headaches
of staff members not meeting the
deadline, the heartaches of not
getting a story that would have
looked good in the paper and
the joy and relief of finally
getting the finished product to
you, the students.
I did not take the job by
choice, mine was by cir
cumstance. All in all I did what I
had to do. And like a good friend
and also a former editor himself
said, "This is one job you can’t
give up on." I regret that we
didn't come out as often as I
hoped, but I hope we have
served you, the student body,
well.
For helping me get through
this endeavor I would like to
thank the following people: The
staff as a whole, especially two
you ng ladies who covered a story
or two more than what I asked
them to do and also my right-
hand lady, my Associate Editor
who lent me not only her time
and effort but a "friendly” ear;
Also Dr. Ziegler for her much
needed assistance; Finally, I
thank two young men. One for
his experienced advice and help
and the other one for his con
tinuing support.
But before I go on any further I
would like to say that during this
academic year I have noticed a
lot of insensitive attitudes among
fellow Brownites. Some people
get pleasure out of being insen
sitive to others. To know what
makes people that way would be
an interesting analysis to make.
But moving right along, even
though I will not be the Editor-
in-Chief for the 1986-87
academic year, I thought this
would be the perfect opportuni
ty to extend an invitation to
anyone who would like to work
with the Wolverine Observer
Staff. You can devote your time
as writer, typist, proofreader or
photographer. Any of the four or
all. We would be most ap
preciative. Don’t worry if you
think your writing skills aren't up
to par. We (the senior members
of the staff) can help. We learn
from each other.
Lastly, I wish the best to the
S.G.A. officers, class officers and
queens and Miss Morris Brown
College and her court. On that
note I would like to leave these
words of wisdom with you:
God grant me serenity to accept
things I cannot change,
Courage to change things I can.
And wisdom to know the
difference.
by Karon Ammons
"Don’t cross my line of
death!" Who are you to tell us
what todo?I""He’sa mad man!”
"Baby killer!"
Sounds like children playing
games on the playground. Only
this time the children are
political leaders. The games are
military maneuvers. And the
playground stretches from the
United States, across the
Mediterranean Sea and into
Lybia.
It makes you wonder. "Does
my life or the lives of the million
or so military-draft-age young
men of America count for
anything?" When such childish
games are played with our lives
and minds, it makes me want to
know why.it all must happen. I
recently asked my U.S. History
instructor this same question and
I thought I would share her
answer with anyone who was just
as confused as I was about the
by Teresa Watkins
Why do those who do the most
receive the least recognition? I
can't really answer that question
becat/sfe of my bids toward the
persons whom I think do the
most. I'm talking about the few,
the proud, the political science
majors. We hold more offices
and participate in more com
munity activities than any other
majors.
matter.
All the commotion seems to
have started when Mommar
Khadafy challenged the United
States to cross his imaginery line
of death — a line that extended
miles beyond the true boundary
of international waters
designated by the United
Nations.
So, being the world super
power that we are, the United
States (while conducting routine
military maneuvers in inter
national waters) crossed the line
of death on the premise that they
were only obligated to stay
within the boundaries establish
ed by the U.N.
Lybia — a peon in size com
pared to the U.S. — retaliates by
bombing U.S. planes and perfor
ming terrorist acts in European
countries allying with America.
Reagan speaks out against this
terrorism, saying it must be
stopped and calling Khadafy a
It may seem as though we are
tooting our own horns, but if we
don’t, who will? So far no one
has.
Even though we have only two
instructors in our discipline and
we don't, at least not yet, have
our own department, all political
science majors associate with
one another. Can you say that
about the persons in your major?
“mad man." The U.S. strikes
strategic areas, where the
terrorist acts are believed to be
plotted.
In the process, Lybian doctors
claim Khadafy's adopted
daughter is killed. Now Regan is
a "baby killer," according to
Khadafy.
All the fighting, on the United
States’ part, is done in the name
of finally putting a halt to
terrorism. But the other day,
during one of those five minute
news briefs, it was reported that a
bomb in the U.S. embassy in
Turkey, believed to have been
planted by Lybian was dis
mantled. Question: Could the
United States be so concerned
about little Lybia because of oil
and military position?
This can get to be quite
confusing in itself. I’ll ask my
History instructor and let you
know what she says.
All I'm saying is that we
political science majors take
pride in our field of study and
our instructors. We would love it
if we could all, regardless of our
majors, learn to associate with
one another as we all strive
toward the same goal: To
Graduate From Morris Brown
(within 4 years).
Poli Sci Majors Want Recognition
Political Perspective
One who plays a principal or
guiding role in the course of
actions of others is said to be a
leader. There are many types of
leaders. Band leaders, orchestral
leaders, and team leaders, just to
name a few. But the American
Heritage Dictionary lends
credibility to the term leader by
defining it as one who has
influence or power, especially of
a*political nature. From Harriett
Tubman, to Frederick Douglass,
to W.E.B. DuBois, to Adam
Clayton Powell, to Martin Luther
King, Jr., to Jesse Jackson, to
Louis Farrakhan, this definition is
more apropos. In a comparitive
view of past and present Black
leadership, one must look at the
circumstances surrounding that
leadership. These prevailing cir
cumstances include, but are not
limited to, racism, racial dignity,
and economic and political in
dependence.
Within this tumultous
capitalistic society that we share,
racism is very evident. The house
of America was built on the
bricks of racism. This racism first
reared its ugly head when
massive ocean vessels appeared
on the shores of Africa. The
occupants of these massive
ocean vessels viewed the in
habitants with contempt. Con
tempt because before them was
a group of people who had no
obvious need for money or what
was at that time the modern
convenience of reading and
writing. The occupants of these
massive ocean vessels
transported these kings and
queens from the mother land to
“the other land" where they
were subjected to mankind’s
greatest injustice - slavery. This
physical oppression manifested
itself through hatred. A hatred
that has not yet been explained
to satisfaction or understood in
its entirety. Albeit, slavery has
been abolished in its most ex
pressive sense, racism is still very
evident in this country. What
other explanation could there be
when a race of people has
spent its entire existence in this
country trying to liberate
themselves from the racist tyran
ny of another race of people.
Harriett Tubman fought for it.
W.E.B. DuBois fought for it.
Present Black leaders like Bishop
Desmond Tutu are fighting for
that liberation still.
Because of the ever-present
stigma of racism, past Black
leaders found themselves in the
precarious position of providing
their race with a positive self-
image. After the Emancipation
Proclamation, past Black leaders
were compelled to provide the
race with an image that was free
from chains, whips, and shackles.
They had to labor endlessly as
well as tirelessly to have the
federal government recognize
coloreds as actual citizens and to
grant them suffrage. They were
faced with the challenge of
having elected colored folks
serve in public office. The
watchful eye of the Industrial
Revolutionsaw either the ideas of
coloreds stolen away for profit or
their assistance go completely
unrecognized. The twentieth-
century brought with it two
world wars that put the Negro at
the forefront of the fightfront,
but at the backdoor of knocking
opportunity. No matter how
hard the Negro tried, be it either
in the Olympic games, in the
world of boxing, in the field of
education, or in the study of
science, he still found his ac
complishments aggregately un
noticed and persecution his
only"reward.” Leaders during
this era had as their main objec
tive to give racial dignity to a
people who had it stolen away
long ago. Frederick (Augustus
Washington Bailey) Douglass,
who once described himself as
"a recent graduate of the institu
tion of slavery with his degree on
his back," gave many speeches
advocating racial dignity. Mary
MacLeod Bethune, through her
fervent efforts in education,
impressed upon her students,
the idea of racial dignity. Jesse
Jackson’s incessant oration of "I
am Somebody” continues to
echo this sentiment. Past and
present Black leaders voicing the
same ideas.
Economic and political in
dependence have been another
shared goal of past and present
Black leaders. At the outset of
the Civil Rights Movement, it
had become very evident to
Black leadership that this coun
try had a great respect for wealth
and power, neither of which
Blacks were familiar. Along with
the trampling of racism, the
advocacy of racial dignity, Black
leaders were preaching the
sermon of economic and
political independence. Leaders
formed such organizations as the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC),
the Student Non-violent Coor
dinating Committee (SNCC).
and the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE), to help foster
the ideas of this economic and
political independence. In
dividual leaders traveled the
country supporting this concept.
Opinions expressed in ar
ticles and letters are those of
the author and do not
necessarily reflect either the
opinions or the policies of the
college or the Wolverine
Observer.