Newspaper Page Text
Spelman Spotlight November 15, 1979 Page 4
Editorin-Chief - Rolonda G. Watts
Associate Editor - Pamela Denise Moore
Editors
Advertising Manager - Phyllis Sawyer
A rt Editor - Ellen Robinson
Arts Editor - Claire Henry
Business Managers - Trevonia Brown
Angela Nickerson
Circulation Manager - Lavita J ohnson
News Editors - Kiron Kanina Skinner
Adele Sheron Newson
Photography Editors - Ruth Cauthen
Pamela Scott
Public Relations Manager- Sheron Covington
Religion Editor - Angela Benson
Photographers - Kirby Ayers
J oe Lewis
Michael Bowie
marilyn Morris
Reporters
Florence E. Hudson
LaRonda I. Morris
Sheila A. Reid
Leslie A. Reese
Renita Reynolds
Tracey M. Willard
Susan E. Hart
Cynthia Williams
Bridget M. Davis
Vivian Fannings
Manning Marable
Norvice Johnson
Donna Williams
Kenneth Cummings
Sonja Washington
Spelman Security—
Fake or Authentic?
By Sonja W ashington
Upon observing Spelman’s
security and talking with
numerous guards, I began to
question the validity of Spelman’s
fines (our guards). On different
occasions, as I was brought back
on campus various means of iden
tification check were used, none
of which were consistent.
The first night my escort and I
walked back on campus and he
was asked to leave his I.D. at the
guard house. The second night, I
was driven back on campus by a
young man who was not even
asked to stop the car! Very in
teresting I thought.
The preceeding night, I
thought I would try something a
little different and got three of
my male friends together and we
all drove back on campus
together. As we approached the
guard house, we were stopped
and the guard threw his bright,
shining, flashlight in the faces of
all my friends and asked the two
in the back if they would get out
while the driver left his i.d. with
him and drove me back on cam
pus.
How strange I said, but onward
I went persuing my investigation.
The last observation I made of
this type happened during the
week of Oct. 12 as the tem
perature during the night dipped
well into the 40’s. It happened
around 2:30 on a Saturday night.
As my escort and I went cruising
up toward the guard house, quite
abruptly, we were stopped, and
told that he could not drive me
on campus and was to turn the
car around and could only walk
me on if he left some type of iden
tification. This is too much I pon
dered, but of course, this is
Spelman.
With all this information at
hand, I decided to draw a
hypothesis, it being—different
guards, different nights, and dif
ferent male escorts—bring
various results!
Now ladies, your opinion, am I
right?
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Alright, folks, let's face it, the
Atlanta University Security
System stinks! I, too, have been
told to get in my dorm the best
way I could because I didn’t have
my i.d. and witnessed my sisters
walking alone from the gate on
cold winter nights because their
dates didn’t have the correct i.d.
So, let’s get off our buns and
make some demands! Spelman
needs her own security system in
stead of working this unworkable
one. Join myself and others in the
fight against this security system.
The SPOTLIGHT will aid you in
publishing your grievances and
letters should be sent directly
to the president.
Don't expect change without
taking the steps to insure it.
Rolonda G. Watts
Editor-in-chief
.$&
Too*n«i»
When To Call For Help
Many people hesitate to call for help because they
don't want to appear "silly". If you THINK you need
help, do not hesitate to shout.
Do not enter or call out if a door or window has
been forced during your absence. Someone may still
be inside. Go to a neighbors and call the police im
mediately. Wait outside until they arrive.
If you are attacked, YELL. Cries for help may dis
courage an attacker and often result in their cap
ture. Get to a phone as soon as you can.
Call whenever danger threatens. Don't be embar
rassed if it turns out to be a false alarm.
"Choosing To Be Used"
By Sheila A. Reid
She is standing by the punch
bowl trying to look lonely. He
walks over and simply says,
“Hello.” In response, she says,
“Hi! My name is Mary. You want
to dance? Well, I don’t want to
either. What’d you say your name
was? Whatever it is, I know I’ll
love it. I don’t know who I’m
going to get to walk me back to
my dorm—Bethune Hall. I live
right on the ground floor. My
room number is...
Do you know someone like
Mary? Chances are, if you live in
the AU Center, you are surroun
ded by Marys. Why? The ratio of
women to men here (in case you
didn’t know) is 5:1. Yes, that’s
five women to every man. So you
see, things are bad from jump. To
make matters worse, many men
feel it is their egotistical right and
duty to try and possess all five
women—or even more if they
can hang. That way no one goes
without. To have only one
woman is selfish. What will those
other four do?
There you have it! For women
it’s dog eat dog. They are forced
to become overly-aggressive. The
man doesn’t have to have a good
rap to reel her in—just pay her a
little attention and “snap” he’s
got her. Once he’s got her, the
man can be just as indifferent as
he wants to be. He treats her like
a dog and she has no choice but
to wag her tail. If she doesn’t,
there’s always those other four
out there—ripe and just ready to
be picked. All to often women
bicker and fight over a man that
couldn’t care less about either
one. Like Diana Ross says, “No-
one gets the prize.” Women are
now approaching their male
counterparts with blunt
proposals. They must act fast
before some other female makes
a move to take him. Meanwhile,
the men are loving it!!! They are
able to act chauvinistic,
tyranical, or any way they so
choose. But only because women
let them. The fools are thinking
to themselves, “Well, at least I
occupy part of his life. It s asking
too much to expect him to be
satisfied with just me.”
To those fools I ask, “Is it bet
ter to be used repeatedly than
never to be used at all?” If you
can’t keep your man, at least
keep your pride and dignity!
HAVE
A
HAPPY
TURKEY
DAY!!!
Blacks and the Kennedy Boom
Dr. Manning Marable is curren
tly writing a history of Tuskegee
Institute with a grant from the
Rockefeller Foundation. Next
year he will teach Black history
at Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York.
In recent weeks there has been
an unmistakable boom for a Ted
Kennedy run for the White
House next year. Blacks from all
ends of the political spectrum
seem to think that Kennedy
would make a far more respon
sive chief executive than Jimmy
Carter has proven to be these
past three years. Jesse Jackson
alone has continued to flirt
coquettishly with the Republican
National Committee, but the od
ds are good that even he would
be willing to jumb aboard the
Kennedy Bandwagon.
The cement that holds these
pro-Kennedy forces together
within the Black community is a
combination of nostalga, anti-
Carter sentiment, and an historic
commitment to the Democratic
party. Ted Kennedy recalls the
politics of the early 1960s, when
his brother Jack was President
and brother Bobby was Attorney
General. Black folk like to
remember the real advances in
desegregation gained ip those
years. We remember Martin and
Malcolm. We tend to forget that
Jack placed dozens of racists into
politically powerful positions, as
federal judges, marshalls and ad
ministrators, and did next to
nothing for the Movement until
early 1963. We ignore the ex
tensive wiretaps that brother
Bobby ordered illegally to watch
Martin Luther King, Jr. Most im
portantly, no one mentions that
official Black unemployment
never dropped below ten percent
while the first prince of Camelot
reigned.
Anti-Carter sentiment is strong
within the Black community.
Droves of Black Carterites from
1976 have disavowed their
relationship with his ad
ministration. Black unem
ployment, especially among blue
collar workers, youth and
women, has climbed steadily un
der Carter. He has not taken an
aggressive posture to expand
federal jobs programs, and is vir
tually silent on the white
backlash against affirmative ac
tion. Thus, Kennedy looks like an
acceptable alternative—or at
worst, the lesser of two evils.
The third factor, Black voter
allegiance to the Democratic Par
ty, is the critical and decisive
element. Since 1940 Black elec
toral support for the Democratic
Presidential ticket has never
dropped below 65 percent. Over
ninety percent of all Black elec
ted officials are Democrats at
local, state and federal levels. A
section of the Black electorate,
probably 20 percent, would vote
for a Republican moderate like
John Anderson of Illinois or
Howard Baker. On the left, Black
nationalists continue to call for a
Black national political party as a
progressive alternative to the
Democrats. But in all probability
the great majority of Black voters
will support the Democratic
nominee for President, no matter
what his economic, social and
political views are. This political
tradition of voting Democratic,
born of the Great Depression, is
now entering its third generation.
Thus, Kennedy vs. Carter is com
monly seen as “the only game in
town” for Blacks.
The basic question which has
been left begging is whether a
Kennedy Presidency would be
qualitatively different from Car
ter’s years in office. Would Ken
nedy create a better material en
vironment for Blacks on matters
such as jobs, health care, tax
reform and so forth?
Ironically, the Wall Street
Journal recently provided an an
swer to this query. In an editorial
published September 19, entitled
“Kennedy and Carter,” the con
servative business daily rejected
the notion that Kennedy’s ad
ministration would differ sub
stantively from Carter’s.
“Nothing in Senator Kennedy’s
record would suggest significant
differences,” the Journal ob
served. “Indeed, Mr. Kennedy
himself has not predicted im
portant changes, saying only that
he would exercise greater leader
ship abilities and focus on
economic policies.” From their
rightwing point of view, both
politicians have “supported ex
pansion of federal taxation and
spending” and both exhibit “un
concern about the decline of the
U.S. world role and the rise of
Communist expansionism.” Both
candidates advance “free health
care,” although Carter’s budget is
tighter. “In economic policy,” the
Journal concludes, Kennedy “of
fers no thoughts for restoring in
centives to the economy.”
Granted, the Wall Street Jour
nal’s opinions are 180 degrees op
posite from this author, but he
logic of the editorial remains.
Virtually nothing that Kennedy
has proposed to do at this date
differes dramatically from the
retrogressive policies of Jimmy
Carter. This should not mean tha
t Blacks should blindly follow
J esse J ackson’s lead into the
Republican Party. It means that
we must chart an independent
course for ourselves, around a
political and economic agenda
that fits our own needs, and not
those of the two major parties. It
means, from the perspective of
the grassroots, that the Kennedy
boom is a bust.
Deadline for
December 17th
issue is
December 3rd.
Little Known Facts
The largest and grandest
of the grand pianos, made in
1935 by a London com
pany, weighed 1.3 tons and
measured 11 feet, eight
inches in length.