Newspaper Page Text
December 1981
Spelman Spotlight
Holidays A Time Of
Refreshment
rejuvenation
Christmas Prayer
For Black People
Page 2
by Stephanie Greene
Contributing Writer
The flame is just about
flickered out for the fall semester
of 1981. For many of us, the time
has flown by. For others of us,
time has only crept. We’ve gone
from the hot days of September
registration, getting settled in
new classes, and adjusting to
new instructors; to homecoming
and the many festivities surroun
ding that event. Finally, we face
the onset of final exams.
In just a few days, we will be
heading home to be with family
and friends for the holidays. I,
just as you, want this to be a
happy and joyous time. Being so,
I think one of the best ways to
make the holidays more special
is to leave our academic en
vironments with good and
positive thoughts, whether or
not we have considered the past
months to be ones of fond
remembrance.
After all, we made it through
in each of our own individual
ways. Now that we are about to
leave, we should take stock of
ourselves by evaluating our
priorities, values, and beliefs.
Then, placing this semester in
the historical and significant
past, we should return next
semester with renewed energy
and ambition. Positive attitudes
should characterize our being.
Lastly, let us try to return with a
strong sisterly kinship toward
each other. Sisterhood is what
makes Spelman unique, and it
has to be more than a word in
order for Spelman to be that
special place that we like to
believe it is.
The holidays are a time for
refreshment and rejuvenation.
Upon our return, we should be
ready to start anew and give the
best that we have to give,
because anything less would be
damaging to all those who have
sacrificed in order for us to be
here. Only one more thing to
say, and that is ... have a great
Christmas and fantastic Kwansa
and New Year.
by Dr. Manning Marable
I believe in Black humankind
— every man, woman and child
of African descent that dwells on
this earth. I stand in awe of our
beauty and genius, our gift of
song, our sciences and culture.
Neither slavery nor capitalist
oppression could destroy that
special heritage, that challence
of Blackness, which shall oneday
rise up with the oppressed of
other lands and inherit this
turbulent world.
I believe in Work — that
collective act of creativity which
moves mountains and builds
cities. I believe that unemploy
ment is a crime, and that all men
and women should be provided
the chance to learn productive
skills, to enjoy the fruits of their
labor, and to control the means
of production that creates all
wealth.
I believe in Equality — that all
human beings of all races and
cultures were made alike in the
possibility of development. I
believe that the Black struggle in
this nation cannot accept “equal
opportunity” within an in-
ANMHILATION OF 0LACK COLLEGE EDUCATION...
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Looking
* ‘81
By Lisha B. Brown
Associate Editor
The first semester has come to
an end and everyone is looking
forward to that long vacation.
Christmas presents, home cook
ing, and nights of constant
partying are just waiting at home.
Instructors are compiling those
last exams and grading those
final papers. And the students
are cramming. (First they are
cramming their minds for those
finals; then they start cramming
those suitcases to go home).
Christmas is definitely the
busiest time of the year. The
holidays are so hectic that we
can't even find time to reflect on
our past few months together.
As we race off to the airport,
we are frantic because the plane
leaves in twenty minutes and
takes fifteen minutes to get
there. Finally, there is time to
breathe. This is the time each of
us should take time to look back
Back at At Spelman
In Retrospect
and measure ourselves.
We go through the stages of
being a freshman, sophomore,
junior, and a senior. Supposedly,
we encounter a growth — a
mental growth within ourselves.
As freshmen, we experience
homesickness, some in
dependence, initial interaction
with other Black women on
academic and social levels, and
possibly even a first love. Our
situations become more com
plicated as we move on to
become sophomores.
Frustrations set in; and while
homesickness becomes a
familiar ache we have adjusted
to, we encounter new ex
periences that gradually change 1
our outlook on life. When our
junior year rolls around it is more
difficult to part with friends. We
find love among our buddies,
and home now has two
meanings. Classes rack our
minds, the men rock our worlds
and the realities of life remind us
that we are no longer children.
Finally we become seniors,
basking in theglory of achieving.
Our minds are full of new
knowledge, and our hearts are
full of hope and enthusiasm. Yet,
there is a reluctance to let go.
Friends go far away and the pains
of separation remind us of the
day we left momma four years
ago. We laugh and joke but the
seriousness of our future
straightens our smiles.
The well wishes of those we
love follow us, but we know it all
rests totally upon us. Yet, we look
back, reminding ourselves of the
joys, the sadness, the sisterhood,
and the love. And somehow
along the way we learn to smile
again.
I sincerely wish all of my
Spelman sisters a very safe and
enjoyable holiday season.
nerently unequal economic and
political system. The demand for
equality, defined as the principle
of human fairness, must mean
the construction of a sensible,
deomocratic, economic alter
native for U.S. society, which
socializes the accumulation of
capital and places the interests of
people before profits.
I believe injustice — that
every citizen should have equal
access to counsel, and be treated
fairly in courts of law. I believe
that the American legal system
has all too often favored the
affluent and powerful and
systematically punished the
Black, Brown and poor.
I believe in the Prince of
Peace. Wars of imperialism and
aggression, waged by this nation
and others, are nothing less than
Murder. I believe that nuclear
weapons must be outlawed in
our generation, to permit the
survival of the next generation.
I believe in certain Inalienable
Rights beyond "life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.” I
believe in the right not to go
hungry in a land of agricultural
abundance; the right to decent be free at last.
housing; the right to free, public
medical care for all; the right to
an adequate income in one’s old
age.
I believe in Education — that
the greatest force of protest
against the evils of racism and
economic exploitation is
knowledge. Every Black parent
must spend as much time
teaching his or her child as that
child receives at school. Educa
tion must become a tool for
liberating our minds, bodies and
communities.
I believe in Sacrifice. We
cannot all be wealthy. In an
ideally democratic society, no
one should have an income or an
accumulation of wealth that he
or she does not personally need,
nor acquire the economic power
to disrupt the lives and
aspirations of others. We must
give a portion of our personal
income back to our Black com
munities to build economical
and social institutions.
I believe in Freedom. In this
society, freedom has meant the
freedom of corporations to raise
prices, the freedom of the
wealthy to evade taxes, the
freedom of the unemployed to
dwell on the precipice of starva
tion and desperation. I believe in
the freedom to build a new
society devoid of the darkness of
blind bigotry; the freedom to
work, play and live in
neighborhoods without fear of
police repression; the freedom
to worship; the freedom to
confront our own weaknesses
with the courage of our Black
elders; the freedom to resolve
the political and social problems
of today and set forth in the light
of our heritage, to a new land of
peace and productivity, racial
equality and economic
democracy. Only when these
tasks are accomplished shall we
Swhum
Editor-In-Chief
Photography Editor
Bridgett M. Davis
Whitney Young
Associate Editor
Co-Circulation Manager
Reporters
Lisha B. Brown
Lillian Jackson
Nancy Bowman
Managing Editor
Business Manager
Carla Johnson
Elena Jordan
Susan Hart
Denise Reynolds
Valerie Peete
Office Manager
Copy Editors
Carolyn Robinson
Emily Patterson
Carla Thomas
Ronda Killens
Yolanda Williamson
Glenda Patterson
Kimberly Harding
News Editors
Daphne Ward
Karen Burroughs
Diane Moss
Layout Editor
Veronica Green
Lynne Shipley
Spotlight Advisor
Features Editors
Judy Begre-Hewitt
Lisa Turner
Circulation Manager
Tony Magby
Valerie Pinckney
Artist
Special Features Editors
Ruby Hall
Debra Johnson
Photographer
Angela Moore
Melvin Jones
The Spelman Spotlight is a bi-monthly publication produced
by and for the students of Spelman College. The Spotlight
office is located in the Manley College Center, lower
concourse, of Spelman College. Mail should be addressed to
Box 50, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia 30314. Telephone
numbers are 525-1743.