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Spelman Spotlight
CONTAX keeps you up
to date on opportunities
happening in Atlanta and
around the country. Appli
cations may be picked up on
the door of the Spotlight
office on the lower con
course of Manley Center.
The Arts: The Georgia
Council for the Arts (GCA)
sponsors free state-wide
grant seminars for Georgia
artists in the revised Indi
vidual Artists Grants cate
gory. Atlanta seminars will
be February 22 at 7 p.m. and
February 23 at 2 p.m. at the
Center for Puppetry Arts, 1404 Spring St.,
NW. For more information, call 493-
5780.. .1mage Film/Video Center sponsors
workshops on various aspects of film produc
tion from January through April. For a sched
ule and to receive an registration form, call
352-4225...The National Shakespeare Con
servatory in New York City will audition
actors on February 4 in Atlanta. Call (800)
472-6667 for further information and an
audition appointment... A Dance Arts Organi
zation in metro Atlanta seeks an Administra
tive Director with a background in business
and the Arts. Mail resume to: Total Dance
Theater, Inc., P.O. Box 3411, Atlanta, GA
30302.. .
The American Poetry Association will
Page 9
award poetry prizes worth $44,000 to 608
poets. Poets may enter up to 6 poems, no more
than 20 lines each, name and address on each
page, to American Poetry Association, Dept.
CO-30, 250-A Potrero St., P.O. Box 1803,
Santa Cruz, CA 95061.
Journalism: The Ralph McGill Scholar
ship Fund offers scholarships to students who
have completed at least two years of college
and have demonstrated an abiding interest in
newspapering. Applications are due by May
1.. .Howard University Press Book Publish
ing Institute offers basic training in book
publishing skills from May 29-June 29.
Applications are due April 12, but those inter
ested are encouraged to apply immediately.
For applications: Avis A. Taylor, Program
Administrator, Howard University Press,
Book Publishing Institute, 2900 Van Ness St.,
NW, Washington, D.C. 20008...The Rolling
Stone College Journalism Competition
sponsors a contest to college newspaper or
magazine writers. Entry forms can be picked
up at the Spotlight office. For information,
John Jordan (212)350-1221.
Service: Camp Breathe Easy, operated
by the American Lung Association, seeks
volunteers to serve as camp counselors June
9-15. For more information, call 872-
9653.. .The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library
needs literacy volunteers to teach people to
read. Call 730-1963.
Misc.: For minority students interested
in pursuing the Ph.D and careers as business
school faculty, the first GMAC-AACSB
Minority Summer Institute will be held June
10-July 20 at the University of Michigan at
Ann Arbor. Students selected will have all
expenses paid and receive a stipend of $2,500
while being granted six credit hours. For info:
(213) 478-1433. Call collect... The Cornell
National Supercomputer Facility's (CNSF)
sponsors a program for undergraduate re
search. Application deadline is March 23.
For info, or to obtain an application: Donna
Smith, Conference Coordinator, (800)346-
2673...Coors Brewing Company Today spon
sors the 1990 Coors Veterans' Memorial
Scholarship Fund, which will award $500,000
in scholarships to at least 100 sons and daugh
ters of American veterans worldwide. For
applications: (800)-49COORS.. .International
Marketers Inc. is hiring persons with a back
ground in telephone sales. Call 872-9255,9-
6, for further information... The Medical
College of Georgia is currently recruiting
college students for the 1990 summer enrich
ment program in the health sciences. Appli
cation deadline is March 15. To find out more
or to request an application: Dr. Thomas F.
McDonald, (404) 721-2522...The University
of New Orleans will sponsor its International
Summer School in Innsbruck, Austria this
summer. All instruction is in English. Enroll
ment is limited, so interested persons should
apply as soon as possible.
For more information: (504)286-7116.
- Allegra Lawrence
Forum on Interracial Relationships
By Sabrina Bradford
On Tuesday, January 23, approximately
200 students gathered in and around the new
biochemistry building at Morehouse College
for “Interracial Relationships: Their Debate
Round 2” sponsored by the Morehouse Col
lege SGA. The affirmative team was com
prised of three members: Trent Berry, Stephen
Broomes, and Rohaven Richards; the mem
bers of the opposition were Fanon Wilkins
and Kenneth Dunkin. The affirmative team
opened the debate when Stephen Broomes
asked “Are we as a people going to choose
agape love or agape hate?” Kenneth Dunkin
opened for the opposition by referring to
white women as cocaine and continued the
metaphor by stating the dangers he felt white
women posed on Black men.
As the debate progressed, several points
surfaced. Rohaven Richards of the affirma
tive team cited statistics given by pychologist
(continued on page 12)
Off Campus...
(continued from page 1)
campus, went to get her mail. When
returning from the mailboxes, she heard
someone running behind her. Not want
ing to be knocked down, she turned to
move out of the way. Instead of passing,
the runner grabbed her and threw her on
the grass on the side of her apartment
building. She was just two doors away
from home. The only thing she could
hear was a male voice saying, “ Shut up,
shut up, I have a knife.” Fearing for her
life, the young woman screamed as loud
as she could, fought to get away as hard
as she was able to, and after breaking
free, ran as fast as she could.
Attacks, rapes and abductions are
most definitely on the rise in this area.
Even though we cannot control the ac
tions of others, steps can be taken to
ensure our safety. Things such as always
walking with a friend at night, locking
your car door at all times, and parking
your car in lighted areas can give you
added protection.
The young lady said that because
she could not identify the assailant, there
was not much the police could do. Un
fortunately, the man will never be pun
ished for his crime. The woman says she
has learned something important from
this experience and shehopes others learn
also. “You don’t realize how people can
be watching you.” she warns. “You may
think you are safe but you can be subject
to violent acts. I had this feeling that it
could not happen to me. Now I know,
and hope everyone knows, these things
can happen and I hope others won't have
to realize it the way I did.”
Contributing: Wendi Cleveland
Breakin’ it Down
(continued from page 4)
the picture was the quote “Nothing like this
has ever happened to me before”. The “noth
ing” was the “drive-by shooting” of seven-
year old Terrell Weaver, her great-great grand
son.
According to the paper, Terrell was killed
just after leaving her home. The person who
killed Terrell was also responsible for wound
ing three other children. The newspaper ac
count of the article suggested that the person
who did the shooting was angry about a drug
transaction that had allegedly occurred with
Terrell's father. Oh, by the way. Also on the
front page was the headline: “MARTA talks
of Rounding Fares Up to $1.”
It was very difficult to finish reading the
story about Terrell Weaver and the other three
children and his great-great grandmother and
Terrell's father and the boarded-up commu
nity where mostly old people live. No one
likes to hurt, and feeling other people’s pain
just seems so... unnecessary, especially if you
are busy. So in search of good news, I turned
to the Metro section of the paper where there
is a color picture of black men and women
crying at the funeral of Renard Smith who
was killed (along with another young man) by
two older men they had “robbed a very few
days earlier”. Underneath the picture of people
mourning was the picture of a young girl with
a younger child on her hip walking past the
blood splattered wall at the “complex” where
young Renard Smith was killed two days
before along with his young friend... etc.
The article suggested that life in the
“complex” had become “penny ante”, and
people in the community do not value life as
much as the artificial status (artificial because
it is status based on illegal transactions) that
can be achieved within that community (the
implicit comparison being that people outside
of the “complex” do value life more than
“real” status that they are capable of achiev
ing.
Oh, by the way. A few pages over was an
article about a white “elected” official who
won his appeal to let an election stand in
which his family members who did not live in
the district voted for him and other white
individuals were voting using addresses where
houses no longer existed and white business
men were voting using their business ad
dresses in a district that is 85 percent black ...
and they were not among the 15 percent living
in the district. The court said the election
was...valid. Interesting.
So. I felt the tears coming. A student
(whom I respect and care about a great deal)
came over to my table, looked into my face
and asked me what was wrong. I began to tell
her how depressing the news was this morn
ing, and how could it all happen...And while
I was not particularly articulate and focussed
in my answer to her question, she got the basic
point that I was not feeling good. Out of
concern for me she then told me that I really
should start feeling better about it all. But yes,
it is all very sad. Obviously feeling awkward
in stating the purpose of coming to my table in
the first place, she plunged into a request for
a medical school recommendation. I said
fine. She will go to medical school, and she
will do very well.
I feel the tears coming. And I do not want
them to come because who wants heavy eyes
so early in the morning when you have to face
people all day who will be wondering why
you look so — bad. So I busy myself with my
day. I listen to a wonderful student panel
presentation on reproductive rights. I go to
my office, issue my usual apologies to stu
dents for not having their papers graded just
yet, worry over a proposal that must be post
marked tomorrow, freeze when I see the edi
tor of the Spotlight coming toward me to ask
“is it ready yet?” And I do not feel like crying
anymore. I do not hurt or feel pain (mine or
anyone else's). I am just too busy.
There is a lull around 4:30pm when stu
dents have either decided that there is no point
in asking her again if the papers are ready and
when I have decided that if the proposal is
postmarked tomorrow fine, and if not, that is
fine too. I am sick and tired of the whole damn
thing. And during the lull, I pick up the news
paper again - and I want to cry...again.
Now. I know that hurting does not change
anything. Tears do not change anything ei
ther. Needed are systematic, organized, revo
lutionary agendas which define what is read
in the paper in ways that have not been popu
lar (For example, perhaps we need to rethink
the ever-popular “role-model” panacea for all
social ills, big or small). And there was a great
deal of good news last week (i.e. Dinkins and
Wilder).
I guess this is an essay about what we do
when we hurt for other people, especially
when those other people are us. While hurting
does not change anything, I am certain that
“accentuating the positive” alone does not
change anything either. While no news may
be good news at times, there is no time when
tragic news can be made less tragic by better
news.
I think about the absolute hurt (that comes
from a deep sense of outrage) that must have
consumed Ida B. Wells to move her to make
her life’s work (her life’s work) the collection
of data documenting the extent to which black
men were being lynched in the 19th century.
I think about the absolute pain that must have
devoured Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer and moved
to preach that black people live in Mississippi
too, and yes, Mississippi is part of the larger
United States and subject to the same federal
regulations as other states (not a popular idea
in the state in the 1960’s), and to spend (and
risk) much of her life trying to insure that Af-
ricanamericans in Mississippi were repre
sented politically. I then think about the pain,
hurt, and sense of betrayal that pushed stu
dents to gather signatures and write a letter to
a popular television “talk-show" host to tell
him that jokes at the expense of black woman
hood are not funny. We are not laughing.
So I come to the conclusion that walking
around in a "constant state of rage” (as a good
friend of mine calls it) is not fun. It does not
feel good. It means that I will hurt a lot. It
means that I will have to confront the notion
that the drug story, the MARTA story and the
election story are all the same story, and that
this is not a pleasant realization because then
there are no easy answers (i.e. MARTA does
not need role-models).
But maybe not “busying" away incon
venient pain will also mean I am free to do the
“impossible”, the courageous, the bold thing,
the revolutionary thing. I certainly have models
all around me (See, I do sometimes believe in
the usefulness of models) of women empow
ered by the pain they refused to anesthetized
with busy schedules, drinks, a good movie, or
rational explanations which make the uncon
scionable seem...reasonable. Don't worry, be
happy? “Let's get busy” (a favorite phrase of
another great philosopher) and have a good
time? Maybe not this time. Not yet. There is
work to do.