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The Spelman Spotlight March 1985
Grant at a Glance
Last month Spelman honored
a very special woman who today
is regarded as the “mother of the
Civil Rights Movement.”
That woman was Rosa Parks.
Thirty years ago, she sparked the
Civil Rights Movement when she
refused to give up her seat to a
white man on a segregated bus in
Montgomery, Alabama. Tired
from a day's work, she mustered
up the courage and strength to
refuse her seat.
One could only wonder where
she found the courage and
strength for which she is ad
mired. Today, she passes this
courage and strength to others
like us. At the convocation held
in her honor, she remarked “my
request is that you carry on with
dedication and courage and be
motivated to get proper training
and guidance to accept the jobs
and opportunities offered. And
don’t give up and don’t say the
movement is dead.”
This is a strong request. Our
task as young black women
By Carolyn Grant Editor-In-Chief
seeking to pursue successful
careers is to fulfill it as best we
can. The courage and strength
that Mrs. Parks uncovered in
herself thirty years ago is what we
should uncover in ourselves
today. Both qualities can be
motivating factors in our lives as
we seek proper training,
guidance, jobs and oppor
tunities.
As we seek, we should do so
with dedication. A search
without dedication is bound to
be an unsuccessful search.
Just as we need to be
dedicated in seeking strong
careers, we need to be dedicated
in the movement. Mrs. Parks
heeds us not to say that the
movement is dead. It is very
much alive only it exist in a
different form from the form in
which it existed 30 years ago.
Often we should stop and ask
ourselves where is the move
ment going, how does it exist
and how do we as young black
women fit in?
The answers to these questions
are many and lie in each of us.
Our task again is to seek them
out in order that we may become
full active participants and not
passive participants.
Our contribution to the
success of our race is very
important. Black woman
historically have been known as
supporters. Today this support
system is needed more than ever
for our steadily retrogressing
race.
The strength of this support
system depends a great deal on
how well we keep aware of
ongoing issues and on how well
we prepare ourselves mentally.
Mrs. Parks is widely
acknowledged for bringing
about a change through a move
ment. Today, we can continueto
see that changes take place by
gaining and using knowledge
and by using opportunities.
Along the color line ...
Who profits from apartheid?
By Dr. Manning Marable
South Africa is unquestionably throughout the U.S., led by civil
rights and religious leaders, has
helped to highlight these
brutalities, and has made Presi
dent Reagan’s support for this
Nazi-like regime more difficult
to justify.
But larger questions remain.
Who benefits materially from the
existence and perpetuation of a
state whose legal justification is
white supremacy? Does the
investment of U.S. corporations
in the regime help or hurt
American taxpayers and
workers? Any analysis of the
political economy of South
Africa illustrates that the U.S. is
decisive in the running of the
racist government. American
corporations control 70 percent
of the South AFrica computer
the most immoral and repressive
state on the face of the earth.
Despite the Reagan ad
ministration's cozy and suppor
tive relations with apartheid,
dubbed “constructive engage
ment," the reality of its tyranny is
too monumental to obscure.
Since 1967 over six and one half
million citizens have been
arrested and tried for pass law
violations; hundreds of opposi
tion leaders have been crippled,
tortured and even murdered by
apartheid police; over one hun
dred laws restrict and censor the
press; and sincejune 1961 fifteen
hundred people have been
“banned” by the government’s
Minister of Law and Order. The
continuing nonviolent protests
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THE VOICE OF BLACK WOMANHOOD _
Editor-in-Chief
Advisor
Political Editor
Carolyn Grant
Kimberly McElroy
Sydney Perkins
Fine Arts Editor
Photo Editor
Layout Editor
Jennifer Jackson
Jennifer Satterfield
Natalie Heard
Sports Editor
Marie Roberts
Associate Editor
Circulation Manager
Lynette Glover
Triphenya Zachery
Literary Editor
Carol Lawrence
News Editors
Health Editor
Angela Hubbard
Jasmine Williams
Debbie Marable
Art Editor
Feature Editor
Debra Johnson
Wanda Yancey
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 1239, Spelman College, Atlanta,
Georgia 30314. Telephone numberis 525-1743.
market - in fact, an IBM com
puter runs the stock exchange in
Johannesburg. Goodyear and
Firestone sell tires to the regime,
which are used for police forces.
Several multinational oil com
panies, including Exxon, Caltex
and Mobil, have sold oil to South
Africa in direct violation of the
1979 OPEC embargo. In all,
about 20 percent of all foreign
direct investment in South Africa
comes from US firms. As of 1983,
for example, Mobil Oil had $426
million invested inside the coun
try, with 3,577 workers; General
Motors, $243 million and 5,038
workers; Newmont, $127 million
and 13,535 workers; Union Car
bide, $54.5 million and 2,465
workers. Control Data had $17.8
million in sales in 1983 inside
South Africa, a paultry figure
compared to IBM’s sales of $262
million and workforce of 1,800.
American banks, led by Chase
Manhattan, Chemical, Bankers
Trust, First Boston and Manufac
turers Hanover, had outstandin
gloans totaling nearly $4 billion
as of 1984.
The reasons for U.S. corporate
interest in South Africa are easy
to explain. Despite the union
membership of about 350,000,
African laborers, the vast majori
ty of the nonwhite labor force is
unorganized. Strikes are illegal,
and nonwhite union activism is
viciously repressed. The majority
of Black workers live in poverty.
Even according to the biased
statistics of the apartheid
government, African
households below the official
poverty level include 62 percent
in Johannesburg, 65 percent in
Durban, and 70 percent in Port
Elizabeth. Racial segregation
lowers nonwhite labor costs.
Using May 1983 figures, the
average monthly wages in all
manufacturing firms was $1,290
for white, $460 for Indians, $365
for Coloureds, and $320 for
Africans. According to the Sur
vey of Current Business, U.S.
companies averaged 18.7 per
cent annual rates of return on
capital investment between 1979
to 1982. Apartheid laws and the
rigid regimentation of nonwhite
labor reap their rewards.
How does this investment
affect Americans? Researchers
for the Washington Office on
Africa and the Civil Rights
Department of the United
Steelworkers of America recent
ly prepared a brief study on this
issue. For several years, the U.S.
steel industry has experienced a
state of rapid callapse. Between
1974 and 1982 domestic steel
production declined by 50 per
cent. In 1983, the seven largest
steel producers reported losses
of $2.7 billion that year alone.
Major industrial towns depen
dent upon steel productivity to
generate jobs have had
staggeringly high rates of
joblessness. Simultaneously, the
u.S. steel industry has ciphoned
domestic profits and reinvested
them in Third World nations
where authoritarian regimes
guarantee a low wage, non-
unionized labor force. Imports
from foreign nations producing
steel now exceed one fifth of the
domestic market. And since
1975, U.S. imports of apartheid’s
steel have increased 5,000 per
cent.
South African steel is largely
produced by a state-owned firm,
the Iron and Steel Corporation
(ISCOR). All of the major U.S.
companies which have ex
perienced difficulties producing
(Continued, pg. 4)
Bear Readers,
The Spotlight encourages you to voice your
opinions, make suggestions or comments and to air
your grievances. All letters must be typed and signed.
Sincerely yours,
Spelman Spotlight
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