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Editor-In-Chief — Avy D. Long
Associate Editor — Malrey Head
Development Editor
Pamela D. Moore
.q,'. Reporters
; Sheron Covington
- , Pamela Johnson
Daisy Minter.
Adele Newson
Shelia Poole
Valita Sellers
Elayne Walker
Rolanda Watts
•' Nancy West
Donna Williams
Dorothy Williams
Contributing Writers
India Burton
Shelia Newton
Lauri Saunder
Literary Editor
Gabrielle Girigorie
Photographers
Avy Long
Randy Grier
Advisor
Christopher Reynolds
Advertising Solicitor
Rolonda Watts
Press Ignores
Black America
By Adele S. Newson
The image of a pilgrim peace
fully exchanging a product of the
industrialized nations for an ear of
maize supplied by savage Indians is
firmly ingrained in the minds of the
college student of the 1970s. These
students, as do present elementary
school children, receive fairytale
versions of history. Farces persist
largely because text books are pro
duced by white America. These
texts are necessarily biased
becaused the resources from which
the information was extracted was
necessarily biased. This is the prim
ary reason why minorities need a
responsible press dedicated to the
principals of unearthing truth.
Benjamin Hooks, executive
director of the NAACP, charged
that the white media consistently
fails to report “the totality of black
life in America.” If this charge is
the case and if history is written
based on key contributions by key
publications then minority history
is lost. It will remain lost until the
minority community decides that it
is tired of receiving censored news
from the white media. *
Milton Jordon, publisher and
editor of View South magazine,
recently examined the impact mass
media has on the individual. He
maintains that not only does media
determine how the individual
views the issues, but, many times
media determines the issues that
the individual considers. He clearly
illustrates this point by asking the
individual to examine “...News
week magazine, which reports to
be a journal that weekly tells the
American public almost every
thing that happens of any signifi
cance in this country. I ask you
how many times have you picked
up Newsweek and thumbed
through every page and have seen
absolutely nothing about Black
America? So each week Newsweek
says to the American public,
‘Nothing happened in Black
America this week of significance
to the rest of the country.”’
Therein lies a very important
factor that may suggest the reason
why minorities by and large are not
a people who enjoy reading. If
there is nothing about or anything
of relevance to them then they
quite naturally have no need to
read. Reading then becomes a lux
ury too often outside the grasp of
minorities. On the other hand if
there were a reliable publication
catering to the needs of the minor
ity population then that would be
cause to read.
Clearly there is a need for a
minority press that could allow
minorities to respond to what they
consider their own. The press is
needed to correct the injustices
produced by the white press, to
clearly define history, and to pro
vide stories that are of relevance to
the black community. These are
perhaps the three most important
reasons for justifing the the exist
ence of a strong minority press.
The Spelman Spotlight April, 1979
Students Ignore Attempts To Help
By Malrey Head
In almost any instance in which
someone is trying to satisfy a large
number of people the efforts are
not successful or satisfactory to a
large part of the group.
Those that are not satisfied are
often found in small groups com
plaining and suggesting ways for
improving the system.
When the organization or insti
tution realizes these problems and
attempts to solve them they find
many ways to go about it. Some
times suggestion boxes are found
sitting in often traveled areas.
However, one never has the sug
gestion written down when passing
the box or when its written, is not
near the box. Sometimes commit
tees are formed to handle grievan
ces. They may pass out
questionnaires, which are not ans
wered. They may ev en ask persons
face to face, but oneseldomgetsan
on the spot honest answer.
Seldom do members of an
organization or institution get to
talk face to face with the heads of
the departments in charge of their
respective areas of complaint. It is
even more seldom that complaints
are voiced directly to the head of
that organization.
Administration at Spelman Col
lege is well aware of some of the
problems at the school. Therefore,
in an attempt to learn what specific
complaints and suggestions stu
dents had about the school, a
Town Meeting was scheduled for
March 13. It was supposed to be a
time when students could come
and talk to the administration
about any area of concern in the
school.
Yet less than 100 students
attended this Town Meeting. The
reasons for students not attending
could be many. Some may have felt
that one hour was not enough time
to cover every complaint. But a full
house would have shown the
administration that students were
concerned.
Apathy, if that's what the prob
lem is. may have cost the Spelman
College student body other cha;
ces to voice their complaints. Sit
ting in dorms and the student
center yakking about the problems
is not the way to get things done. It
is doubtful that there are bugs
there to transmit conversations
The administration doesn’t
know everything or have solutions
to every problem. But students can
give their insight into the way
things are. For the . next Town
Meeting, the administration will
probably try very hard to get stu
dents to come. Hopefully they will
respond and let the administration
know what’s happening. Apathy
can be very dangerous and lead to
unwelcomed consequences.
Blackness Has Been Overlooked
By Pamela Johnson
In a previous article a survey was
taken on campus to determine if
Spelmanites feel that Spelman’s
most prevalent aim should be to
prepare black women for our roles
in society because we realize that
the problems and predicaments
that we will be faced with will differ
significantly from those of our
white counterparts. The results of
this survey were positive to the
above summary. However, upon
reading Spelman’s new Statement
of Purpose, there is only one state
ment that deals directly with us,
black women, and it states that
“Spelman has been and expects to
continue to be a major resource for
developing educated black
women.” Again I find the State
ment of Purpose to be a vague doc
trine as far as its relativity to the
black woman. I strongly question
the meaning of the first sentence of
the Statement of Purpose, which
says “As an outstanding histori
cally black college for women,
Spelman strives for academic
excellence in the liberal arts.” Does
this mean that the emphasis of
Spelman is no longer placed on
enhancing its students from the
black perspective? Well, if Spel
man believes that it can forget our
black heritage, we better remember
it because when we enter the work
ing world you had better believe
you may be reminded of your
blackness more times than you will
care to remember.
Students Cheat Themselves
By Dorothy Williams
Perhaps the biggest disservice
that we do to ourselves at Spelman
is not taking full advantage of our
educational experience. Sure, I’m
guilty along with the rest of that
probable 90-95 percent student
populace, but unlike so many of
those students in my very calcu
lated percentage, I do arise to the
occasion when it’s time to separate
the women from the girls.
To say the least, student apathy
is one of the most run-down topics
of conversation, but when we as
young black women totally neglect
our educational responsibility, we
not only cheat others, but most
importantly, we cheat ourselves.
Many students here complain of
little motivation. They constantly
blame the Spelman atmosphere for
their lack of academic interest, and
in some respects a school’s atmos
phere does contribute to one’s
overall academic performance, but
with all due respects to that prover
bial word “maturity” we must
declare ourselves as official
members of The Club Woman
hood and, in street terms, “deal
with it.”
I’m the first to agree that it’s very
hard to study for a particular class
when your teacher “visits” his class
occasionally or when particular
teachers let cheating go unnoticed,
but as adults—and many of us
have questionable futures—we
must try as hard as possible to
insure some sense of security or
solidity to that future.
With minority entrance to grad
uate level and other professional
schools leveling off, and the
decrease of affirmative action pro
grams for certain types of jobs, it’s
a case of “may the best man (or
woman in our particular case)
win.”
I’ve heard some people say that
“I have a father or an uncle who
can get me a particular job,” but I
feel confident in saying that most
of us aren’t fortunate enough to
boast of such, and, in my opinion,
when it’s left up for someone to do
something for me, such as getting
me a job, uncognizant of my par
ticular skills or talents, I, would
feel deficient in personal value.
What’s more, I have little respect
for people who are, in some peo
ple’s minds, fortunate enough to
have such a set-up. Hence, for
those who are like me, the place to
start is here, while we still have a
chance. We could study a little
harder, be a little more active by
putting our skills and talents to
use. We could party a little less,
and be a little less sociable. And
instead of being so hostile toward
administration and faculty, we
could refurbish that anger in the
form of energy to do more mean
ingful and interesting things.
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