Newspaper Page Text
C
February, 1986
Spelman Spotlight
Page 7
Dynamic Black Women
The Real Top T en
Marshall
Scholar
by Lisa D. Cook
I am sick reading those lists.
Major U.S. magazines have dic
tated to the American public
who were the best and worst of
everything in 1985 has made me
ill. In all of these lists I found that
one group was totally eliminated
for achievements in other areas
besides entertainment — Black
women. It was appalling and
somebody has to stand up for us.
That somebody is Lisa D. Cook. I
do not have the patience for Mr.
(or Ms.) WASP Publisher to tell
me who is due recognition and
who is not. So here it is:
“Spelman Spotlight’s Official
Ten Most Intriguing People of
1985 (Who Just Happen to be
Black Women)."
1. Winnie Mandela - Beside
every great man there is a great
woman. Just as Rosa Parks and
her sense of defiance went down
in the annals of American
history, so will the legacy of
Winnie Mandela.
2. Bonnie St. John - (1985
Rhodes Scholar from California.)
Having been amputed from the
knee down as a child, Bonnie St.
John has excelled athletically as a
world-class skier.
3. Whoopi Goldberg - The
critics like to portray this brilliant
comedienne and talented ac
tress - a welfare mom one day
and a superstar the next. The fact
cannot be overlooked that she
has been working in and out of
drama for many years, never
abandoning her love of this art,
no matter what her economic
status. See the “Color Purple,”
and you will know what I mean.
4. Pamela Johnson - She is the
first Black woman to publish a
daily newspaper (Ithaca, New
York) as of 1985. A true pioneer.
5. Phylicia Rashad - Co-star of
"The Cosby Show,” the number
one rated television show in
1985. She is to be praised for her
part in portraying a more
positive image of the Black
woman.
6. Shirley Chisholm -
Spearheaded the founding of
“National Black Women in
Polical Congress.” Whenever a
person who has had as much
political experience as she has,
and uses to the benefit of her
race and gender, by forming a
coalition which will aid both, she
is to be commended.
7. Patti LaBelle -1985 was Patti’s
year. Although she is doing the
same thing she’s been doing for
the past 20 years, the whole
public has recognized her for the
first time as a result of “Motown
Returns to the Appollo,” “Bever
ly Hills Cop," and her own
Thanksgiving television special.
She has a right to sing
“Somewhere Over the Rain
bow” with feeling, because she
waited patiently during the
storms for her rainbow and pot
of gold to appear.
8. Robyn Hadley - A 1985
Glamour Top Ten Woman. After
spending a semester on ex
change at Spelman, this Univer
sity of North Carolina (Chapel
Hill) student became a 1984
Rhodes Scholar, the third black
woman in history to do so. She
was then recognized as one of
the ten most outstanding women
in America in 1985. She is
currently studying at Oxford
University. (It could not have
happened without that Spelman
experience.)
9. Lynette Woodard - While
many Black women are concern
ed with breaking barriers on
Wall Street or on Capitol Hill, she
is breaking a varrier on the
basketball court. As the first
woman player of the Harlem
Globetrotters, this two-time
Olympian has proven herself just
as good as or better than one of
the “boys.”
10. Mary McLeod Bettune -
This founder of the National
Council of Negro Women and
Bethune-Cookman College and
Presidential adviser became the
second Black woman to be
honored with a commemorative
stamp in 1985. She is certainly
deserving of this honor.
Goetz Goes Free
by Marie Roberts
Bang... bang... bang... bang...
bang... Five shots. Thirteen
months ago, as those shots rang
out, a roar went up for a man
many called a hero, and now the
New York State Supreme Court
has called him innocent.
On January 16, Justice Stephen
G. Crane dismissed charges of
four counts of murder and four
counts of assault against
Bernhard H. Goetz, 38, in the
shooting of four youths who
asked him for $5 on a subway
train.
According to the New York
Times, Crane dismissed the
charges because of "prejudicial
error” by a prosecutor who
instructed the second grand jury
in the case last March and
because statements by two of the
shooting victims now "strongly
appear" to have been perjured.
Though Goetz was released
from the more serious charges,
he must still stand trial for one
count of reckless endangerment,
for the chance he took at har
ming other passengers on the
train, and one count of criminal
possession of a weapon.
However, the district attorney,
Robert M. Morgenthau, said he
will appeal Crane's decision.
“We believe our charges were
correct,” Morgenthau said.
Justice Crane said in his deci-
sion, he would allow
Morganthau to take the unusual
step of entering a third grand
jury to hear the case. Now,
Morgenthau must decide
between appealing to the
Apellate Division of the State
Supreme Court or presenting
the case to another grand jury.
Goetz became "the man who
refused to be mugged" Dec. 22,
1984, for what seemed at first, to
be a man defending himself
against four thugs. However,
many questions have been raised
since that time.
Why had Goetz vanished after
the shooting? He stopped only
long enough to tell a conductor
that the youths had attempted to
rob him and then he dis
appeared. He was captured 10
days later in Concord, N.H.
How could Goetz be sure that
he was in danger of being
assaulted? Only one of the boys
asked him for money, the other
three remained at a distance.
Was it necessary to shoot all four
boys, or even one of them? The
law states that a person must
retreat from a confrontation
unless he "reasonably” believes
physical force is going to be used
against him. Could Goetz have
walked to the other side of the
train and never resorted to
violence?
The final question, one which
has left many fans as enemies
was, why had Goetz returned to
one of the victims he had already
wounded and said “You seem to
be doing alright. Here’s another
one,” then fired a second shot
into the boy crippling him for
life?
The April 8, 1985, Time
Magazine quotes Alfred Messer,
an Atlantan psychiatrist, as call
ing the 1980's "the decade of the
ciminal." He argues that the
increase in violent crimes has left
Continued on Page 8
for a recovery program instituted
by General Marshall. The
program enables students of
United States citizenship to study
for a degree of a university in the
United Kingdom for at least two
academic years.
Lisa has chosen to continue
her studies in Philosophy and
Modern Languages for two years
at Oxford University. Lisa, a
devout humanitarian, plans to
use her knowledge as a vehicle
through which she will aid the
Black community.
Lisa contends that too many
Blacks in high positions
“become Anglicanized and act
as if there is no such thing as
color.” Determined not to be
categorized as one to “sit in an
ivory tower of learning, unwill
ing to share,” this illustrious
member of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Inc. vows to help the
whole world, but especially
those, she says, who have helped
her.
r~SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
I • N • C *0 »N *C «E «R »T
A CELEBRATION OF
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Friday. February 28.1986
8:00 p.m.
Center Stage Theatre. 1374 W. Peachtree St. NE
Reserved Seat Tickets S10 Advance & $12 Day of Show
Available at: Center Stage Box Office and all
S.E.A.T.S. Outlets including Turtle’s Records, the Omni International
and the Macon Mall.
To Charge Tickets Call 873 2500.
Produced by Windstorm Productions and £
the Spelman College Student Government Association. C
by Leslie Ann Sykes
Throughout our nation's
history, the great leaders have
been those who have been able
to understand and appreciate
the diversity and universality of
the human race. Within such an
exceptional individual lies a
keen sensitivity and a very basic
and humane level of con
sciousness. These admirable
qualities are few among many
displayed by the dymanic Lisa
Cook.
A native of Milledgeville,
Georgia, Lisa is the winner of the
coveted Marshall Scholarship.
She is a Philosophy major here at
Spelman College, with plans to
attend law school in the near
future. Miss Cook was Spelman's
only recipient of the Marshall
Scholarships offered this year
across the nation.
The Marshall Scholarship
program was established in 1953
by the United Kingdom as an
expression of British gratitude