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Page 10 - Spelman Spotlight
NBSA Sponsors Demonstration
In Nation’s Capital
Today, throughout the
southern tip of Africa, black
people' are fighting for v§ry
basic human rights against
illegal white settler
governments who forcibly oc
cupied and took over their
land. In truth, the black
masses in Southern Afrika are
enslaved in their own country.
Afrika
We at NBSA are insulted
and outraged that the IJ.S.
stands in support of the illegal
white minority governments
in Southern Afrika in spite of
its stated commitment to
human rights as a basic tenet
of its foreign policy. We main
tain that the government can
not in sincerity focus human
rights as a top priority while at
the same time remaining the
prime political and economic
supporter of the racist
apartheid regimes of Southern
Afrika.
The National Black
Students' Association has
called for a national
demonstration for human
rights in Southern Afrika and
the ff.S., to be held on April 1,
1978 in front of the White
House. Our purpose is to voice
mass support of black students
in the U.S. for the struggle in
Southern Afrika and to place
pressure on the U.S.
government to cease its
political and economic support
of the illegal governments. To
voice our demand for a viable
full employment program here
will be another purpose of the
demonstration.
It is imperative that black
people in the U.S., particularly
black students, take an active
and meaningful stand for tile
liberation of our brothers and
sisters in other parts of the
world. For black people here,
the U.S. government itself
must be the prime target of our
actions because this is where
our actions can have the
greatest effect.
We feel that U.S. actions in
Southern Afrika are of much
greater significance than its
words. The U.S. was one of
only three countries that voted
against economic sanctions
against Southern Afrika in the
United Nations, and has voted
against ousting the illegal
government from the U.N.
There are still over three
hundred U.S. corporations
who are making blood money
off of the death and repression
of our brothers and sisters in
Southern Afrika. U.S.
corporations produce ap
proximately 60% of South
Afrika’s cars and trucks; two
U.S.-based companies handle
almost half (48%) of South
Africa’s oil refining capacity.
18% of the foreign private
investment in Southern Afrika
is from the U.S. Meanwhile,
unemployment runs rampant
here.
The government being thus
supported politically and
economically is one in which
only whites can vote or hold of
fice; one in which between 1800
and 1500 arrests are made per
day for pass violations
—Afrikans must at all times
carry a passport to move about
in their own country; one
which forbids an Afrikan
mother residing on her white
employer’s property to keep an
infantchild with her even until
she has finished nursing it;
one which systematically
bulldozed the homes of 10,000
people and left them with no
place to go (August 1977); one
Where Are Our Black Men?
A Male Point of View
by Malrev Head
“Black women seem to feel
that black men are an en
dangered species,” said Dr. M.
Henry Pitts. Feb. 9 at Spelman
College.
Dr. Pitts, professor of
psychology at Norfolk State
College, speaking to a filled
Sister’s Chapel said that there
were four reasons why he
thought black women consider
black men an endangered
species.
“A disproportionately large
number are in jails,” he said.
Up to 60 percent of those im
prisoned are black men, he
said.
Another reason Dr. Pitts
gave for the scarcity of black
men is death. This death is
either from heart disease or
homicide. Heart disease in
various forms is prevalent
among most males, he said.
Homicide is usually another
cause for the lack of black men.
They are killing each other off,
he said. Dr. Pitts stated
homosexuality as a third
reason for the loss of black
men.
“The sexual freedom of the
60’s and the result of adopting
white values,” he said, caused
the black male to lose his
sexual identity.
The fourth and final reason
for the lack of black men, Dr.
Pitts said, was a result of
integration. With the process
of integration, black males
began to be seen dating
blondes, he said.
Dr. Pitts stated that all of
these forces have made the
black woman feel that she is
losing black men or that there
is a scarcity of black men.
Dr. Pitts is a clinical
psychologist, educator and ad
ministrator. Along with his
teaching position, he is a con
sultant with Roy Littlejohn
Associates in Washington.
D.C.
in which dissidents are
detained and held indefinitely
without trial, and ultimately
face death of the kind suffered
by Stephen Biko.
Wedemand: (1) that the U.S.
sever all diplomatic and
economic ties with the illegal
governments of Southern
Afrika and that it withdraw all
forms of support and aid from
these governments, (2) that the
U.S. support the United
Nations proposed economic
sanctions against South
Afrika, (8) that U.S.
corporations withdraw totally
from South Afrika and bring
the runaway shops back to the
U.S., thus easing unem
ployment here, and (4)that the
U.S. government, in
cooperation with the
corporations, institute a viable
full employment program
within the U.S. immediately.
The demonstration will
begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday,
April 1,1978 on the sidewalk in
front of the White House.
There will he a rally in the park
across the street from the
White House, beginning at
1:00 p.m., with speakers such
as Dick Gregory and Sonia
Sanchez
NBSA calls for all concerned
organizations and individuals
to support this demonstration
with contributions, en
dorsements, publicity, mobiliz
ing efforts and participation in
the demonstration.
For More Information, con
tact:
NBSA
P.O. Box 92001
Atlanta, Ga. 80814
(404) 755-5620
Dr. LeFlore 1
Receives
Fellowship
Dr. William B. LeFlore, f
professor of biology, Spelman |
College, has been awarded a
Minority Access to Research
Careers (MARC) Faculty
Fellowship to conduct!
research at the University of f
Leeds in Leeds, England. He
will conduct biomedical
research in the area of
parasitology and his
tochemistry in the laboratory
of Dr. J.B. Jennings, a
renowned authority in
parasitology and invertebrate
zoology.
In August, Dr. LeFlore will
present a paper at the Fourth
International Congress of
Parasitology which will be
held in Warsaw, Poland.
He is a native of Mobile,
Alabama and the son of Mrs.
Teah Beck LeFlore and the late
Alabama State Rspresen-
tative, John L. LeFlore Sr.
Lonely Women Ask:
Where Are Our
Black Men?
by Valita Sellers
Where are our black men?
Why is there a deficit of two
million black men in
proportion to black women?
Dr. Leota Tucker answered
these and similar questions in
her discussion of “Black
Women and Loneliness.”
Dr. Tucker is a clinical
psychologist, educator and ad
ministrator, and has held
numerous positions in the
areas of mental health, male-
female relationships, and men
tal health issues among black
women. Dr. Tucker is also the
Director of the Department of
Welfare in New Haven,
Connecticut.
Dr. Tucker spoke to a large
audience at Sisters Chapel on
the Spelman College campus.
According to Dr. Tucker, one
and one half million black
women leave home every year.
Over half of these women leave
husbands and children
behind, yet they are still
plagued with the disease of
loneliness. Some of these un
fortunate women gave Dr.
Tucker the answers to the
question, Where Are Our Black
Men?
When forced to deal with the
question, where are our men?,
and Why is there a deficit?, the
black woman who is having
trouble finding a man is
burdened with some very dis
tressing answers. Many of the
men are in the armed services.
Dr. Tucker found this to be the
number one competitor for
black women. She also found
many of our men leaning
towards homosexuality, mat
ing with white women, playing
the field, victims of high blood
pressure, heart attack, and
homicide, and in prison.
Since black women cannot
find happiness with a man
who is in the field, interested in
white women, gay, or dead,
many are forced to the man of
the armed services or the man
just out of prison. Dr. Tucker
pointed out that “Many times
these men have not developed
the relational skills necessary
to build satisfactory male-
female relationships.”
“Ready-Teddy attitudes,
food, drugs, and faked
business are the ways in which
most black women try to cope
with loneliness, according to
Dr. Tucker. She noted, “Ready-
Teddy attitudes are adapted
out of desperation. This
desperation forces the woman
to adopt an extremely ac
comodating philosophy.”
Obviously, this attitude is
unhealthy when seeking a
satisfying relationship
because explicit promiscuity is
usually a turn-off. Dr. Tucker
also pointed out that food is
also an obviously dangerous
method because obesity is
definitely not a good step
towards a good male-female
relationship. Drugs are not the
answer either because they
offer only temporary relief
from loneliness. Faked
business is also a very popular
method.
Dr. Tucker said many
women fill their schedules so
tightly that there is not enough
time to realize the pain of
loneliness. This method is
helpful and easy; however, it is
not very healthy.
“Black women like everyone
else need intimacy and affec
tion. They have to deal with
poverty, poor health, poor
education, abuse and op
pression," said Dr. Tucker.
This is the reason why
pretending loneliness does not
exist is unhealthy, she said.
The best way to defeat any
problem is to first admit that
the problem does exist.
Loneliness will not go away
simply because it is not
acknowledged. Loneliness is
not pleasant, it is a bad and
painful experience.
Dr. Tucker also pointed out
that there are two major types
of loneliness black women en
counter. The first type is
emotional isolation. That is
the lack of a substantial
relationship with a man. The
second type is isolation from
other women. These types of
loneliness make the woman
feel unloved, inadequate and
detached. Consequently, she
resorts to some of the deadly
previously mentioned
methods.
Admittedly, there are a
percentage of hlack women
who will be left alone. The
percentage will be.even greater
if some of the aspects of lonely
black women do not change,
according to Dr. Tucker. Black
women are lowering their stan
dards because they feel that
the “right man” will never be
met. Also, many of them are
sharing their men.
These are common mistakes,
hut the greatest mistake is the
fantasy of the lonely. This fan
tasy contains the entrance of a
man into this lonely woman’s
life and suddely all of her
problems, insecurities, and
inferiorities are lifted. A man
is necessary in this fantasy to
alleviate the woman’s
loneliness. This is definitely
unhealthy because too much
emphasis is put on the man
and if he were to leave, the
woman’s whole life would fall
apart. Dr. Tucker suggests
ways for the black woman to
cope with loneliness, and to
eventually overcome it.
* Take an inventory of your
goals.
* Clarify the goals and move
toward them.
Continued on Page 12