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Spelman Spotlight April 20, 1982
Dick Gregory Speaks
By Valerie Peete
Political Reporter
On Friday March 19, 1982,
comedian / political activist Dick
Gregory spoke to a packed
house at Davage Auditorium on
Clark College's campus. His
message was simple: “Use your
mind and think about some of
the things that are going on.”
For Example: Is it a coin
cidence that the night President
Reagan got shot, the assassin's
brother was to have dinner with
George Bush’s son? Is it a coin
cidence that George Bush, ex -
head of the CIA, was in Miami
the very night the million dollar
drug bust took place? How could
the government make a huge
drug bust such as that particular
one and not arrest anyone?
Gil Scott-Heron says in one of
his many progressive songs,"... is
this a little “c” coincidence or a
big “C” conspiracy ...?”
Dick Gregory believes the
latter. He provided documented
evidence of how the FBI and the
CIA have plotted the deaths of
influential leaders such as Martin
Luther King and John F.
Kennedy, and have then covered
it up. “You better keep your eyes
open,” Gregory warned, “you
better keep your mind clean.”
Covering a multitude of
topics, Gregory momentarily
turned his attention toward
Black college students. He
pointed out how some black
people have their priorities
mixed up. "You Black fraternities
and sororities really have to
change your priorities,” he said
as the audience cheered.
Gregory believes the
qualifications for entering frater
nities and sororities should be
different. "Before you consider
being a fraternity brother and
sister you should sing all three
verses of the Negro National
Anthem ... Then you better go
out and read everything Dr.
Martin Luther King ever wrote
and everything Malcolm X ever
wrote. Then tell me what Paul
Robeson was really about, not
what they tell you he is about...
That type of initiation deals with
dignity and self - respect down in
the pit of your soul.
Mr. and Mrs. Homer Williams,
parents of convicted Wayne
Williams, were present at the
speech, visibly contradicting the
media image portrayed of them
as weak individuals. They receiv
ed a warm standing ovation of
support from the crowd. Dick
Gregory vowed never to eat
another bite of solid food until
the Williams case is cleared up.
He said he could not understand
why the most important case in
Atlanta history was given to a
judge that had less than one year
on the bench — a judge who
used to work under the
prosecutor, Alvin Binder.
Gregory had evidence that the
Center for Disease Control had a
vested interest in the case. He
believes parts of the murdered
male children’s sickle cells were
used in making the cancer
•treatment drug called in
terferon.
On the subject of the fibers
used to convict Wayne, “I wake
up every morning with fibers in
my hair,” said Gregory.
He spoke briefly on the sub
ject of President Reagan. He said
Black people act as if they had
everything they ever wanted and
Reagan just took it away. “You
black folks ain’t never had
nothing,” he quipped. “Reagan
spelled backwards is nigger. If
nothing else, we can boast we
The Plight In El Salvador
by Sharilyn R. Bankole
Belinda Cross
Yolanda Gilmore
Delphia Simpson
In the last two years of El
Salvadors rampage of political
violence and civil war, the body
count of noncombatent civilians
is horrifying. The lowest calcula
tion is the U.S. Embassy’s: 7,382
people killed since 1980. The
highest estimate was reported by
Salvadorean Defense Minister,
General Jose Guillermo Garcia:
30,000 victims since 1979, 24,700
of them “people who had
nothing to do with the conflict.”
The most recent mass slaying
occured two months ago.
In December of 1981, several
hundred civilians, including
women and children were taken
from their homes in and around
Mozotte (a village in El Salvador)
and killed by Salvadorean Army
troops during an offensive
against guerillas. Reporters
taken to tour the region and
speak to the survivors were
shown the rubble of scores of
houses which survivors said were
destroyed by the troops in the
now deserted village communi
ty. Dozens of decomposing
bodies still were seen beneath
the rubble, lying in nearby fields,
despite the month that had
passed since the incident. One
woman who had survived the
massacre described what she
saw. “The troops entered the
village one morning, and after
herding the residents into two
seperate groups - men divided
from women and children - took
them off and shot them.”
Massacre violations of the
most fundamental human rights
is now a new phenomenon in El
Salvador. The current social and
political crisis has its origins in
unjust laws established a century
ago. In March of 1980, traditional
communal lands were abolished
and converted into private land
holdings mostly under the con
trol of very few owners, who
came to be known as the “14
families.” Peasants, who no
longer had land on which to
work in order to provide for
themselves and their families,
were forced to labor on these
large plantations under mis
erable conditions.
In order to maintain control
and to smother the dissent and
discontent caused by such
systematic injustices and ex
ploitation, the oligarchy resorted
to the military. A coup in 1930
established a succession of
military regimes that was un
broken until October 1979. The
military’s resoluteness in up
holding its part in the alliance
with the oligarchy was manifest
in 1932. Atthetime,thousandsof
peasants protesed dismissal from
work and expulsion from plan
tations. The army massacred
30,000 demonstrators and out
lawed the creation of peasant
labor organizations. The
rebellion and slaughter are still
remembered.
By January 1981, the American
people and America’s allies
seemed to be sending the same
message to Washington. Both
wanted a more assertive United
States internationally, a United
have a backwards nigger in the
White House,” said Gregory
amidst laughs from the
audience.
Gregory said that if we were a
separate nation, economically,
we would be the fifth or sixth
most powerful nation in the
world. However, it is his feeling
that Black people put their
money in all the wrong places.
They don’t give to the UNCF,
SCLC, Operations PUSH, or
NAACP. ‘‘I don’t want to hear
how white the Urban League is. I
don’t hear you philosophisizing
how whit® cocaine is. And it will
kill you,” he said.
Dick Gregory ended his
speech by talking about health.
He pointed out the hazards of
eating meat, drinking tap water
and women taking the birth
control pill. “You gotta take care
of your bodies,” he warned.
The program ended four
hours after it started, with the
enthusiastic crowd thanking
Gregory with a standing ovation.
Afterwards there was a reception
held in his honor.
Spelman Junior Gwen Dyson
summed up the impact of such
an evening by saying, "This is
one of the reasons I am glad I go
to a Black college.”
States that by protecting its own
interests more vigorously would
also protect the interests of its
friends. But the Reagan ad
ministrations first effort to pro
ject U.S. foreign policy proved
extremely controversial. Con
gressional mail on U.S. policy in
El Salvador ran heavily against
the president. Foreign opinion
was questioning, when it was not
openly critical. For critics, the
sending of arms and advisors to
El Salvador too closely
resembled initial American
moves in Vietnam. For sup
porters, the unhesitating support
of the Salvadorean government
signaled an end to the Vietnam -
induced paralysis in U.S. foreign
policy. However, neither the
original American presence in
Vietnam in 1961 nor the final U.S.
retreat in 1975 was accompanied
by wideranging and serious
public discussion. Thus, in many
ways the current debate over
Reagan’s policy revives post
poned questions: Has the
Reagan administration
specifically misunderstood the
political factors at work in the
Third World, and in Central
America? At the base of the
Reagan Administration’s support
of the Salvadorean government
lies the tremendous fear of
Soviet - Cuban influence. It is out
of this fear that another fear
grew, the fear the El Salvador
might become another Vietnam.
One morning in early
February, readers of the New
York Times picked up their
papers to discover that accor
ding to “secret documents
reportedly captured from the El
Salvador insurgents,” the Soviet
Union and Cuba had agreed in
1980 to “deliver tons of weapons
to Marxist - led guerillas” in the
country. Thanks to a leak from a
Latin American government that
had received advance copies of
U.S. supplied papers, Times State
Department correspondent Juan
de Onis had scored a significant
beat on the competition. The
story launched a publicity blitz
by the Reagan Admin, aim
ed at proving that El Salvador
represents a “textbook case of
indirect armed aggression by
Communist powers.” The blitz
continued for nearly three
weeks. Secretary of State Alex
ander Haig proclaimed: “We
consider what is happening as
part of the global Communist
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