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THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
February, 1967
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The Spelman Spotlight
Published monthly by the students
of Spelman College
Anna B. Porter, Editor-in-Chief
Andrea Williams, Associate Editor
Henrietta Turnquest, Business Manager
Melody McDowell, Yvette Savwoir, Feature Editors
Cynthia Smith, Literary Editor
Margaret Mills, Cartoonist
Joyce Akridge, Berdie Ricks, Photographers
Layout Staff: Yvonne Jackson, Marjorie Rich, Eileen Bass, Joyce Young
Advertising Staff: Eileen Bass, LueMa Nichols, Phyllis Johnson
Poet-in-Residence: Joan Gaillard
Contributors: Marilyn Hunt, Janice Holloway, Ruth Baety
News Editor: Chris Singleton
Dr. Richard Carroll, Faculty Advisor
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Spelman Spotlight is published monthly by students of Spelman
College. We welcome articles and letters to the editor from our entire reading
public. These letters and articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
the Spotlight Staff or the majority of Spelman students. We also welcome
advertisements, but do not necessarily support the views of our advertisers.
Monthly deadlines will be posted.
With All Due Respect
It is the responsibility of a newspaper to respect its reading
public and to print its views on all issues that concern its
public. “Rambling Thoughts”, an article by Craig Finley in
the January issue of the Morehouse College Maroon Tiger
has made us ponder the extent of the freedom and the respon
sibility of the student press. The Spotlight feels it necessary to
discuss two aspects of this article: its style and its content.
The style that Mr. Finley employed was in poor taste, but
he presented many ideas with which we agree.
This year the Spotlight staff has tried to encourage students
to speak freely about all campus matters that trouble them.
We have not encouraged rash attacks or hasty generalizations
about any person or group. It is our belief that the student
press should be a dynamic force on the college campus.
Writings in this press should be free from undue emotionalism
and as rational and logical. Writers should confine themselves
to topics with which they are familiar or on which they have
done extensive research. When citing actions of members of
a group, the writer should make it clear that he is referring
to a small segment and not an entire population. “Rambling
Thoughts”, though it had useful things to say, abused what the
Spotlight staff and all reputable publishers consider basic
principles of good journalism.
The students, faculty, and administration of Morehouse
and Spelman should be alarmed that such an article could be
written about the relationship that exists between the “brother-
sister” institutions. Perhaps Mr. Finley is not altogether the
victim of an overactive imagination. There may be some truth
in his article.
Although the majority of Spelman and Morehouse students
are not to be characterized as Mr. Finley’s article would
suggest, there are a conspicuous few. The only people who
can correct the image that these few project are the students of
Morehouse and Spelman. Mr. Finley is not the only person
who has noticed a disintegration in relationships between the
two schools. Spelman women and Morehouse men must re
assess their behavior.
There is a danger that we will begin to put emphasis on
people as commodities to satisfy desires and needs. There is
a danger that love will become merely a “technique” and not
a fulfilling experience.
There are men and women at Morehouse, Spelman, Clark,
Morris Brown, and Atlanta University who have established
meaningful friendships based on mutual respect. These people
need not fear “lists” that are passed around dormitories or
pointless name calling. They recognize the value of relation
ships where ideas can be exchanged and where neither person
need be subjugated or used to meet the needs of another.
Students, not only at Spelman and Morehouse, but at all
the colleges in the Atlanta University Center must learn the
value of self and mutual respect. All the words in the world
cannot change the human character unless a person has the
will to change for the better.
Many Years of Achievement
The Spelman Spotlight congratulates two colleges, More
house and Clark, who are celebrating their one hundredth and
ninety-eighth anniversaries respectively. These two schools, led
by capable presidents, have become excellent institutions.
Though neither is perfect, each has overcome very humble
origins. It is hoped that they will continue to advance the
course of education not only for Negro students but for those
of all races.
A Nation of Psychotics
by Robert L. Terrel, Morehouse College
The American race problem is, to say the least, very
complex. Its roots are deeply imbedded in a history that few
if any of us completely understand, and this is tragic. For
unless we know how the past has ordained the present we
can not begin to formulate adequate solutions for the future.
The anger, surprise, and bewilderment that many people
have exhibited in relation to the slogan “Black Power” attests
to our general ignorance of history.
Stokely Carmichael did not wake up in the middle of
the night this summer crying “Black Power” and then proceed
to indoctrinate Floyd McKissick. The slogan and its militant
advocates are products of a historical situation which began its
development almost four centuries ago.
Around 1640 the white colonial Planters in America began
to realize that they could no longer count on the prisons and
dungeons of Europe to supply them with workers. While her
“inexhaustible horde of blacks” Africa seemed to offer the
perfect solution to their problems. Africa was not a member of
the European community of nations and since the blacks did
not belong to the Caucasian race they were considered “dif
ferent” and therefore created for the convenience of men who
were white, European, and Christian. Taking these factors into
consideration the Planters proceeded with all due speed to
construct one of the most barbaric systems of slavery that the
world has even witnessed.
It was not an easy process however, and the Planters had
many problems, some of them psychological. Before they
could justify their vicious system to themselves and their
Christian consciences, they had to reduce the slaves to a status
that denied their very humanity. The most imminent scholars
and scientists of the period were commissioned to prove that
the blacks were inferior to their white masters. In cases where
a slave happened to get the notion that he was human the
master was obligated to erase the error. If he could not change
the slave’s mind he had no choice but to kill him. These harsh
measures were necessary for the continuance of the system and
the sanity of the master.
If the slave masters had admitted to themselves that their
slaves were just as human as themselves they would have had
to stand before their God, their consciences, and their equali-
tarian ideas in horrendous condemnation. The system was
pathological and those who invented and perpetuated it de
veloped a psychotic mentality based upon racism and white
superiority.
We, the descendants of those perverted criminals, have
inherited their racist mentality as a legacy. This foul legacy
intrudes into all interracial relationships and it is largely
responsible for the fact that most whites and Negroes find
it almost impossible to relate to each other in the absence
of fear, mistrust, and apprehension.
The present situation is potentially catastrophic because
white America is not aware of the fact that the major source of
our racial conflicts is embedded deep within its psyche. The
fact that they refer to the entire question as “The Negro Prob
lem” is proof of their lack of comprehension. The fact that
most Negroes are no longer willing to compromise with racism
adds to the potential explosiveness of the situation.
The riots which have terrorized our urban cities during
the last few summers are but ominous indications of future
unrest. The development of Negritude and Black Conscious
ness among the black masses has been stimulated by the
emergence of the third world and black and white Americans
are moving slowly but surely towards a cataclysmic confronta
tion.
“The problem of the twentieth century will be the problem
of the color line,” predicted Dr. W. E. B. DuBois over seventy-
years ago. He has turned out to be painfully correct.
“In the twenty-first century there will be no color line,”
predicted an angry young Black Nationalist to an angry but
approving crowd in Harlem recently. We can choose to ignore
the obvious and witness the fulfillment of this apocalyptic
prediction or we can seriously address ourselves to our racism
and avert armageddon.
We are a nation of racists and racism is an essential part
of our national character. The only solution, it appears, is
a revision of the national consciousness. Until this is done
our Poverty Programs, Civil Rights Bills, and penitent pil-
grimmages to the lairs of sadistic Southern demagogues can
be nothing more than misdirected utopian panaceas.
Letter
to
The Editor
February 10, 1967
Dear Editor:
The registrar shares with
the students, faculty, and staff
the desire to improve the serv
ices for which the office is re
sponsible. She wishes to assure
you that she is always aware
of the criticisms made of her
work. She wants to take this
opportunity and thank those
persons who have made sug
gestions in time enough to put
them into effect. For example,
the names of the students in
this year’s Student Roster are
listed in strict alphabetical or
der instead of being listed by
classes. A secretary made that
suggestion. The registrar also
thanks those persons who ex
press their willingness to help
by offering their services.
As you know, the registrar
did not see the article “Regis
tration at Spelman” before it
was sent to you. The Spotlight
for January 1967 reached the
registrar’s desk after registra
tion was over. It is the regis
trar’s belief that action would
take place much faster if per
sons who have suggestions
would bring them to the regis
trar rather than route them via
“Spotlight.” The registrar can
talk faster than she can write.
In addition, she does not en
joy the publicizing of her prob
lems.
The persons who made sug
gestions 1, 2, and 3 are in
vited to come to the office and
explain their propositions.
Concerning suggestion 4, the
registrar has learned from re
liable sources that so many
changes take place during the
summer at the Atlanta Univer
sity Center that work done
during pre-registration has to
be done all over again on regis
tration days. Nevertheless,
any student who wishes to plan
her schedule for the next se
mester is free to make an ap
pointment with her academic
advisor and plan what she
should take. Juniors and sen
iors should consult the chair
man of the department in
which they plan to major. The
advisors then should notify the
Dean of Instruction concerning
the courses that should be
scheduled.
The registrar is not alarmed
because some students and
some faculty members are tired
at the end of registration days.
It is normal for the human
body to feel tired after a day’s
work. The dictionary defines
“exhaustion” as “extreme
weakness or fatigue.” The
registrar is not aware of any
one fainting on registration
days.
Sincerely yours,
Grace Jason Perry
Your Registrar