Newspaper Page Text
In dosing, Mrs. Darnell
quoted a stanza from a po«m by
Robert Frost:
The woods are lovely, dark
and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I
sleep,
j And miles to go before I
Emma Darnel Speaks
Stating' ‘the time has come in
Black America when we need to
give careful attention to who we
are and where we came from”
and challenging black students
to achieve as much as possible,
since “the day has past when
“blackness” could be used as
an instrument for making
money, Emma Darnell, Com
missioner with the Dept, of
Administrative Services for the
City of Atlanta, spoke in Ware
Music Hall on March 29th.
Ms. Darnell's appearance,
sponsor**1 by the Black studies
Department was part of the Lee
Battle Lecture series commem
orating the great philosopher,
teacher, humanitarian and
friend to Mercer students for
over 40 years. Speaking of
Battle, Martin Luther
Whitney Young and others
while quoting from “The
Wretched of The Earth,” Ms.
Darnell said “wtf must be
careful, now that we are in the
thick of the fight, that we do not
minimize the actions of our
fathers. They fought as best
they could." She further stated
that she didn’t see “Roots,” the
highly acclaimed television bio
graphy “as a story to be told,”
but, rather as a lesson that must
be learned and must be
understood.
The main portion of Ms.
Darnell’s speech was devoted to
today’s black college students.
Quoting George Jackson. Ms.
Darnell said that “we who have
and fulfill it or betray it. We
know very well our roots, I’m
interested more in the condition
of the branches. We know what
Kuala Kinta did, what are we
going to do? People mopped
floors and parked cars* and
suffered all kinds of humilation
and embarrashment for you to
sit here, what are you going to
do?” Ms. Darnell coutinued to
say that in the nine years since
Martin Luther King’s death, it
has become quite evident that
blacks have “lost ground.”
"Our best efforts have fallen
short of their goals. With
respect to every objective
standard that is used to
measure the condition of a
group, we have lost economi
cally, lost educationally and
lost morally arid ethically. I say
that we have failed. All we can
do is stall to gain time so that
you will be ready when the time
comes for you to do what you
have to do.. .If the blood was not
shed in vain."
Ms. Darnell said that she is
no longer interested in who a
student's parents are, who a
student is and where he came
from, but what the student is
and what he believes in. 1 Stating
that “Blackness has gone out of
style as an instrument for
making money,” Ms. Darnell
said that the time has come
when blacks can no longer get a
, job and a free parking place in
the name of “Blackness.” A
person’s intelligence and his
beliefs determines whether or
student, and his family at 1244
Eastview Avenue in Macon.
Mrs. Annie ^Mae Mitcham,
Zach’s mother, said that Eze
fitted very well into their family
life. “He went to church with us
at Memorial Baptist and seem
ed to enjoy family activities."
she said.
When it was time for classes
to resume at Mercer after
Christmas. Eze'came to her and
asked if he could live in the
Mitcham home awhile longer.
He lived there, rooming with
ydung Mitcham, through Janu
ary
“He was the most Serious
student I ever saw,” Mrs.
Mitcham said. “He studied ail
the time, not even taking any
breaks. Many times he was still
Continued on page 8
Funeral Funo
College campuses across the
country are organizing groups
of students and faculty mem
bers to participate in a nations 1
demonstration against the
death penalty in Atlanta.
Georgia, during Easter week
end- Three days of peaceful
marching, workshops on capital
punishment, the laws and legal
processes, organization of pp-
position to the death penalty,
and religious services are
planned for the “Witneayi
Against Executions.”
"Witness” will begin Friday
evening. April 8, with an
informal gathering for prepara
tion for the march and rally On
Saturday, April 9. a march will
begin at noon at the corner of
Jackson and Aurburn Avenue
(across from the Martin Luther
King, Jr., Community Center)
and proceed to the Georgia
State Capitol for a rally.
Speakers at the rally include
Tom Wicker, Ramsey Clark,
Sen. Julian Bond, Dorothy Day,
John Lewis, and Jerry Paul.
Workshops on capital punish
ment will be held Saturday
evening, and a sunrise Easter
service will be held Sunday
morning.
“Wteneee” is sponsored by
the Southern Coalition on Jails
and Prisons and is co-sponsored
by organizations such as the
Southern Prison Ministry, the
American Friends Service Com
mittee, the American . Civil
liberties Union, and the Na-
Coudnued on page 2
Welcome For Godsey
Mercer University’s faculty,
staff and students will join in an
old fashioned Georgia welcome
Wednesday, April 6 in honor of
Dr. R. Kirby Godsey, new dkan
of the College of Liberal Arts.
Mercer’s band will play on
the quadrangle, beginning at
10:30 a.m. under direction of
Dr. Arthur Schoenoff of the
music department. A program
of welcome will follow at 11
a.m., also on the quadrangle
near the administration build
ing.
A barbecue luncheon will be
x served, beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Faculty ami staff will join
students for the outdoor meal.
In addition, entertainment
which will be announced later
will take place on a stage near
the administration building.
Announcement
April 9 is the deadline for
bmisstons to the SPRING ’77
jue of the Dulcimer. •
All Photos, Artwork, and
Arary efforts will be conaider-
I for publications. They may
i placed in the campus mail
>x 126 or given to either Jack
mkins or Henry Hibbert or
ipped under the door of the
Dulcimer office (room 323,
Connell Student Center).
You don’t have to be
shakespeare or Kerouac to be
published in this issue of the
Dulcimer, however sincere ef
forts are eazily discemabie from
pranks and first drafts. Work on
your matieriai and polish it up
ax\ci send it in. Its that simple.
A fund begun by Mercer
students to cover costs of
returning the body of Nigerian
student, Humphrey Eze, to his
home in Uwani-Enugu, now has
reached >1300, according to Ed
Bacon, dean of students.
Present plans are to send the
Eze’s body home as soon as
possible.
“The idea for the fund
started with several of Humph
rey’s friends and expanded to
include donations from frater
nities. sororities, dormitories
and other groups,’* Bacon said.
“Some neighborhood churches
and Sunday School classes and
at least one civic club in Macon
have contributed, too. We now
are within several hundred
dollars of the total amount
needed.”
Bill Randall of Randall
Memorial Mortuary donated the
funeral home's services, in
cluding the coffin. Bacon said.
A pre-pharmacy major, Eze
entered Mercer as a freshman
last fall and was described ss a i
extremely serious student who
spent s great deal of time with
- his studies.
The Nigerian student spent
Christmas holidays with a
friend, Zach Mitcham, a Mercer
< Against The Death Penalty
