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GARY JOHNSON JOHNNY TURNER
MtMULH Editor Associate Editor
CARL BROWN, Business Managar
LYNDON MAYES, Managing Editor
Ant. Editort: John Tylar Hemmett, Ron Child*
Executive Editor*. Tom Cauthorn, Bobby Phillip*
(Unsigned KJitonalt tht opinion of ths Oust*' end should not be confuted with
newt ttpnei Signed columns end cartoon* ere the opinion* of the authors end not the
Clutter.I
From the Editor
The Silly Game That
Only Fools Play
A Reply to Racism^
by Rocky Wade
This week I’ve directed my
thoughts to a subject matter
that has disturbed me and eat
en my outside all school year
— that subject being the Ad
ministration, the faculty, stu-
i dents, GBC and
| the University
image. I realize
before I start
that this article
I won’t be a con-
l sistent or a co
herent. But I
Hobbs guess every edi
tor of the Mercer Cluster has
that one time when he feels
like exploding and throwing
everything in the bag. At this
hour I’m in that mood. So
here goes.
The Administration
It has been frequently men
tioned that the University has
this image and reputation to
protect and thus there are lots
of do’* and don’ts (on an un
written rule book). Thp Uni
versity I’ve been repeatedly
told is in the midst of a grave
crisis. And this I believe, ac
cept and know as a fact. But
what I cannot accept is the
snowjob being given to the
students and parents by the
administration and the
faculty.
There is so much apology
for what students and student
organizations do on this cam
pus. . .“Weil they didn’t mean
it. They didn’t know what
they’re doing." After apologiz
ing for these student action,
the University proceed to dis
cipline or silence that stu
dents) or organization as a
damage to the public image of
Mercer, giving a false image of
the University. It must be re
alized that the administration
is not the important factor of
this University, but the
student.
Another biury aspect of
the administration is the re
cruitment of students and this
I realize as a crisis focus for
Mercer at this hour. However,
I think the tactics that have
been employed to recruit stu
dents to Mercer have been
guttered and unethical. Nu
merous amount of myths and
actually lies have been precipi
tated down from the admis
sions office about Mercer’s
swimming pools, etc. Yet
when students get here they
find it quite different. They
become not so much resentful
of the school itself, but do ex
press frustration to the lies
told them.
The Faculty
The administration and es
pecially the faculty has repeat
edly expressed a fear that stu
dents are out to get them —
to destroy them — a plot has
been planned to take over the
University. This to me is ab-
surb. What’s really happening
is that the faculty and some
administrators are no longer
secure. What the faculty got a-
way with 10 or 20 yean ago
is no longer possible.
Students on Mercer campus
are challenging faculty instruc
tion, power, and authority.
And I admit it is a valid fear
on the part of faculty. Stu
dents want to be involved.
They are going to get involved
and you’re right 100 years of
obsolete traditionalism goes
down the drain.
It is surprising how many
faculty members are afraid of
this newness and change, but
it was John Stuart Mill who
related that tije mind feeds on
newness. Newness does not
mean destruction but a broad
ening and an opening of the
mind.
(Continued on page 4)
The Black Predicament
by Joe Hobbs
For the first time in his
tory the Black American is
going through a thorough eva
luation of himself and his pre
dicament in an attempt to
find out who
he to
better
I situation This
struggle has
been a hard one
because we
M in a country
■Si fllthal has
tempted to destroy the racial
integrity of the Black Ameri
can He is made to feel sub
ordinate and is constantly told
that everything that he is and
has is through the good graces
of the white society. What is
worse is that we live under an
institution that is structured
pro-white and anti-black, and
permit the continuance of the
existing institutional racism
which denies the black man
his lawful rights under the
constitution.
The white man can easily
invite the Black man in to this
kind of system basically be
cause it means that the evils
of the existing institution
need not be changed, because
the Black who do enter will
be thinking white. Further
more, this also insures the
continuance of an all white
ruling class. Therefore the
flow and thinking of society
must be changed in order to
accommodate the rapid influx
of Blacks who are determine
to make this indeed a demo
cratic and just society for
their black brothers. They also
bear the burden of the injus
tices of the other minority
groups in this country and are
determined to stop this injus
tice.
The black man like anyone
else has a desire to succeed,
but in order to succeed under
present condition means aban
doning his blackness, because
it now represents a sign of
non-success. Even the name of
his racial group, Black, was
not used, but instead the term
“colored people” was used In
the hope that a part of the
pollution of blackness could
be lost by * categorical associ
ation with the rest of the
non-white world. The thing
that has happened in America
is definitely an attempt to dis
mantle the racial cohesiveness
of the black people so that as
little social adjustment! as
possible are needed. The thing
that American racism has
done to blacks, Indians, and
other minority groups la a
deed just as gruesome as that
of Hitler's Germany, becaure
not only were member* of
these group* killed without
reason, they were exploited
and robbed of one of the vital
necessities of life which is
pride in being what you are.
Through a series of social
confrontations the Black man
began to realize what was hap
pening to him and with his
new sense of identity and
pride was determined not to
let it continue. For the first
time he saw that the majority
of the white goodness was in
itaelf a form of oppression.
He began the search for
ways to rid himself of the in
tolerable situation, and
through this effort many ideas
were born. Of them were the
non-violent philosophy of Dr.
King, the radical student
movement and the militant at
titude of the Panthers. Theae
series of ideas for combating
racism were numerous and in
my evaluation none was com
plete in itaelf. Non-violence
brought piece-meal results and
maintained community stabi
lity, radical action brought im
mediate results in obvious
cases of injustices but failed in
the long-run. Militant move-
menta presented for the first
time just how desperate the si
tuation was and the predica
ment In which the Black
American finds himaelf. No
one of these things would
have presented the case as
weO as a combination of all.
Black people today do not
want any part of the present
degenerating society, but are
desirous of building s new so
ciety in which justice and
equality are realities. And it la
to this end that Black people
attack the present racist Insti
tution.
Am tries presently suffers
under the stigma of a quasi
culture of Afro intellegentsia
who have sejf-ordalned them
selves to be the forefront of
the movement
toward libera
tion. Hiding
. under the guise
•of contra-
. suppression, a
Mack leader can
| lash out at any-
'one, any qrs-
tem, any institution, and all
his gripes can be justified re
ctified by the burden his past
has sustained in order that he
may exist to presently exer
cise his free will to complain
about the cultural atmosphere
he inhabits. Recently, a black
Mercerian assumed that he
should present his treatise on
the oppressed he assumes to
represent. This black was one
Jimmie Samuel.
Ranting against white insti-
tutionallzed racism, Mr.
Samuel went forth to formu
late a black Institution found
ed on a wrath which was gen
erated by an exodus his fore
parents where, to use his ter
minology, tortured into. He
extends his institution to en
compass the oppression he
has heard about but never
seen in the rice paddles, and
ultimately be plants his insti
tution In a psuedo-wUderaess
that he says stinks. Yes, this
“wilderness” may stink but It
stinks not only with the insti
tutionalized racism espoused
by such as Mr. Samuels. For
too many well-msaning Mack
leaders establish anti-white
middle class attitudes In to an
established system or institu
tion. Hate is Its’ proper claari-
flcation.
Mr. Samuel apparently has
not read the Autobiography
of Malcolm X. In it, Malcolm
X presents his belief that the
black man must live In a sub
culture of hie own to gain a
sense of Mack awareness. This
subculture must exist in our
present culture. Afterwards, as
a part re-intergratpd into the
present culture, he will re-
assjmllate himaelf aa a black
participant Into the culture
that comprises America. Mr.
Samuels apparently doe* not
comprehend such. He preaches
a doctrine that has no ethical
base. You can not build on
hate and the movement for
equality can only be subjugat
ed further when one substitu
tes hate for reason. If the
slow process of intergratlon
can gain but one convert, he
Is worth more than the
desInstability yeiided by the
callous wank of one extremist
to the mo vans gnL The pent
up rage that ona detects in
the writings of Mr. Samuel
displays a man ret on daatnic-
tion — not only for bimwif
but for a world many have
strove to reek to better. He
seems to dekjrte the dream
Dr. King envMoned to the
back of hk mind. FttifuUy,
Mr. Samuak k very lost
The need for recognition of
a problem k one of the first
obstacles to I problem's ulti
mate solution. America
realises the evik In its pest.
We know the mystiques that
have evolved around the con
notation of Mack. We know
full well the errors of the
past. Both blacks and whites
have seen the errors of the
past, it Is time to look forth
to the future.
Time has brought many
salves to wounds. I feel that
time can solve the racial pro
blems we confront — you can
not save America over night
America can see a future that
glimmers in glory If the aver
age man of any race will deny
the ludricous ranting* of both
narrow-minded white and
Mack racist*.
The Horp
Students!! Rise to the Cause!
by Larry Finklestein
I have often heard our
school described as a small,
friendly and complacent col
lege community. In an era of
things of monstrous pro
portions, tur
moil and ani
mosity, this
quiet descrip
tion has always
managed to stir
some small de
gree of satisfac
tion deep with
in me. But now I am troubled
at the depth of some of those
characteristics. I have begun
to discover, that some of our
friendliness is rather shallow,
and too much of our compla
cency runs entirely too deep.
This is not as our campus
should be.
On the subject of friendli
ness, I have found my fellow
students to he of a pleasant
disposition, courteous, and on
occassion, kind and consider
ate. Still, it must be noted
that for many, friendship has
been withheld on the basis of
race, religion, sex, and/or
creed. This should not be the
way of a truly Christian insti
tution. Too, the willingness to
experiment in truly open
friendships between members
of opposite rexes seems re
markably confined and dis
turbingly restricted when com
pared to the educational ex
periences of other institutions
of higher learning, such as
Georgetown or Emory. Yet I
am most disturbed by the
range and the depth of our
students' complacency.
Bobby Kennedy uaed to
criticize American reformers
as a people who would look
•t things as they were and
ask, “why?” Instead of dream-
lag of things as they should
ba and asking, “why not?*’.
Here at Mercer wa rarely ask
“why,” never “why not;” aid
practically always end up with
a “so what.” This doss not
create an atmosphere conduc
ive to progress. If you ask a
student — any student —
would he like to see improved
classrooms, or improved dor
mitories, or enlarged faculty,
or expanded recreation facili
ties, inevitably be will reply
that he would. Now aak that
same Mercer student what he
is willing to do to precipitate
any one of those changes and
nine out of ten times that an
swer will be silence in the
talking stages, and even great
er silence during any period
attempted activity that may
ensue. This is the kind of
quiet that can damage our
University.
My purpose in establishing
the format of this column has
been to react against the com
placency of our students in
the interests of the University.
1 have been asked consistently
in the course of the last
several weeks, “Why are you
crusading In so solemn a fash
ion for anything so petty «s a
handful of ping pong tables?”
Well the answer, my friends, is
the fact that I am crusading
for an antidote to our stu
dents’ complacency, and for a
beginning I have focused on
ping pong table as the symbol
of my campaign. What have
the results of my campaign
been?
We now have three ping
pong tables standing in the
room adjacent to the post
offlos in the Connell Student
Center. After badgerring offi
cials on all levels of the
school’s operation, three new
tables were secured for our
purpose. The equipment nec-
ceaaary to the use of these
tables by the whole student
body was graciouriy dnnatad
by the member* of Alpha Phi
Omaga (APO) after ay con
versation* with Ray Pitch. But
something much laigsr than
the laue of ping pong tables
changes to the benefit of the
whole academic community.
If students feel that something
is wrong, it Is possible to have
meaningful dialogua with
those entrusted with the res
ponsibility of correcting the
situation. In other words, If
you think something Is wrong,
and you feel that you would
like to aee it made right, do
more than complain about it
to a fraternity brother or a
next door neighbor; go In and
speak with the appropriate
University official. And if you
fuel that you’re getting the
run around on you’re bein;
brushed off, go to another
University official — and let
him know that you're serious;
let him know that you're
determined. Tell you senator
to the SGA about your ex
perience. Write a letter to the
editor of the Clutter. Discuss
your ideas and complaints
with me and with other con
cerned individuals. But above
all, don’t my “Oh, Hell,”
shrug your shoulders, and
then “So what?” All com
placency can poeriMe do is
support a status quo. Let’s
put an end to complacent sup
port of things as they are, and
start looking forward to things
as they should be. Let’s make
known the things we dislike —
and continue to demand that
attention be paid to them.
Only then will we be able to
change our reputation from
the school that wa are to the
school that we should bo.. .a
small Southern school, friend
ly a
what haa bom demonstrated la
the feci that an and t* com
placent support of Unhrenity
policies can mean positive
THE MERCER CLUSTER • February 17,1970 • 2