Newspaper Page Text
P\
(I
re Voice of African-American Womanhood Since 1957
VOLUME XLVIII , ISSUE IV
MARCH 16,2012
Featured in this issue’s GLAM
CAM with a passion for fashion
is freshman, Fennella Miller.
PG 5
As the NBA is noosing black
athletes many wonder: is it re
ally worth it?
PG 3
The debatable subject of light
skin versus dark skin surfaces
in another Forum...again.
PG 3
Jf Uu/jt t/l&
SPOTLIGHT
Campus Life 2\
Forum 3
News 41
Fashion and Beauty. 5 j
Arts and Entertainment 61
My President is Black
Rabiah Elisa Forum Editor
Clark Atlanta’s Student Center
was flooded with AUC Students on
February 21st at 5:30 to rally to
gether in support of re-election for
Barack Obama. The HBCU Obama
Student Summit was put together
by the Democratic National Com
mittee in hopes of raising aware
ness, advocacy, student volunteers
and voter registration. The DNC
wants to get the AUC excited to
vote and engaged in the Obama
Administration efforts to see that
Obama is re-elected for his second
term.
SGA President of Clark Atlanta
University was the first speaker.
She introduced her fellow sorer
and CAU Alum, Kimberly Mar
cus, who for the past four months
has been working as the director
of African-American outreach in
various communities nation-wide
for the DNC. In her speech, Ms.
Marcus noted that the President
doubled numbers for Pell Grants
for an additional 200, 000 students
and as of 2008, 46% of African-
American students receive Pell
Grants, more so than any other
group. Over 40 states have raised
their education standards- teacher
training since Obama was deemed
presidency as well.
As Ms. Marcus shouts out the
name of each school in the AUC,
the crowd was moved by the
presence of representatives from
Morris Brown whom has recently
just recovered from a troublesome
period of lack of accreditation.
Everyone was glad to have them
back and active in such an impor
tant event.
Dr. Dyson of Georgetown
University gave a riveting speech
exposing some of the hypocrisy
within the United States regard
ing the misuse of our tax money
and the abuse of other means of
financial support.. “Thank God we
have a leader who.” was a phrase
Dyson reiterated. He thanked
God that a leader such as Obama
is in the White House to clear
such problems from the thread
of Americas stitching. Dr. Dyson
also stated “don’t think its because
you cute and colored you do what
you do.. .now y’all are in the mall
chillin, watching television, doing
everything but what you need to be
doing.. .they want you tripped out,
tricked out, marginalized.” Dyson
pleads that we do not let politicians
pass laws and policies that subsi
dize our own oppression.
Though Dyson was humorous,
slightly informal and incorporated
a great deal of colloquialism in his
speech, his message was very clear
and well-received all the same: Our
ancestors were lynched, beaten,
brutalized, barricaded, raped, pil
laged, and stripped of all rights to
simply step on the grounds of the
voting polls and we have the nerve
to stay silenced and not exercise
our right to vote.
Spelman’s SGA President, Taylor
Allen, opened by telling a captivat
ing personal story regarding her
interaction with a homeless man.
The nucleus of it being, “Can
YOU sacrifice any more?” Taylor
stressed the importance of reg
istering to vote, and then taking
the steps to actually vote in the
elections. While referencing Dr.
Dyson’s speech, Taylor accidently
referred to Dr. Dyson as “Mr.”
Dyson one too many times- an
innocent but remarkable mistake.
Taylor introduced Keisha Knight
Pulliam, Spelman Alum class of
2001, better known as Rudy from
The Cosby Show.
Ms. Pulliam stressed that this
country has been built on the
blood, sweat and tears of our an
cestors. “So many of us have gotten
so comfortable and say ‘oh this is
how it is’ but do you know how it
got there? Do you know how many
people had to die?” Ms. Pulliam
remarks that it was the people that
were our age who were the corner
stone of the fight for civil rights.
“Understand you power,” Ms. Pul
liam urged.
She also commented that “The
same way you pass the word about
Beer Bash, you need to pass on
the word to VOTE with the same
vigor.”
Janelle Monae’s entourage Nate
Wonder and Chuck Lightening
mad a statement right after Pul
liam about the importance of
voting and not being complacent.
They shared a story about how
democrats are trying to create an
economy that is built to last, em
phasizing the importance of voting
and how we are “agents of change.”
They introduce Janelle Monae who
performed at the White House for
President Obama and is a strong
TV
America
for Barack
Obama
2012
Photos Courtesy of thyblackman.com, minorityrecruitonline.com, mcecenter.com,
qfsusa.com and jbhe.com
advocate for the Obama Admin
istration as well as his family and
his person. Toward the end of her
speech, Monae had everyone in
the room stand up and put our
right fist in the air, a powerful act
of black pride, and promise that we
will do everything in our power to
spread the word to “vote vote vote.”
Travis Randall, the final speaker,
is a senior political science major
at Morehouse, and SGA President.
Declared that we need to be “mak
ing the commitment to stop the
Republican party from rolling back
the progress of this nation.”
What I love most is that we are
no longer trying to mull over
Obama’s identity as a black man to
avoid the shallow discrepancy of
supporting him because he’s black.
Yes, he is black and yes, I will
vote for him because he is black
amongst numerous other reasons.
People cannot possibly convince us
to not vote for him because we are
black, can they? I am proud to be
an African-American and proud
to see myself in the leader of the
free world, in a powerful intel
lectual, excellent orator, outstand
ing crisis manager and a morally
strong President. As Ms. Marcus
said, “African Americans for
Obama.” Obama is a representa
tive for something far greater than
America. He is a challenge and a
symbol of resistance to the self-ful
filling destiny of entrapment many
African-Americans are forced or
retreat in to. He may not have grew
up exposed to or enabling drug
abuse or on a street with boarded
up houses or without stable educa
tion, parenting or financial income.
He may not have struggled in the
same ways many blacks struggle
that drive us to abandon or dreams
and our futures but he is undoubt
edly a clear indication of being able
to avert the too long perpetuated
myth of race being a factor of our
worth and worthiness.
On November 6th, peel your
self from your couch, turn off
your music and television, remove
yourself from your house or dorm,
get off Twitter and Facebook and
VOTE VOTE VOTE. If you are not
registered to vote, get in contact
with our SGA President, Anita
Foster or go to democrats.org or
rockthevote.com.
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
W J
N \ I if ^
1/
f i-
r *
hr v
p * j
iiSir jiiii
m i ]
m '
j j
■ST" /
P! —
75
o
79
o
81
o
77
o