Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Page 4 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 Continued on page 6