Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Nov. 22, 1977, edition 1 / Page 5
Part of Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Page 5 An evening of entertainment benefits Murdock residents By BERNADINE WARD Features Editor The community talent show ain't even dead. Matter of fact, one was held in Wesley Foun dation on an October Sunday, by the OCC Duchess Cohesion Club.. Songs, dance routines, poetry and fashion were all a part of the act. According to club president and founder, Mrs. Thompson, “The show was put on to raise money for two young boys at Murdock Center. A lot of the members are my nieces and their daughters.” Started a year ago, the 15 member club meets twice monthly. Participants arrived early the evening of the performance, strung red and black (club colors) streamers from the ceiling, and set up chairs and refreshments. A music center, complete with disk jockey was located in the right corner. Performers ranged from tiny tots to adults, and the audience (composed largely of family and friends) responded en thusiastically. Following the traditional welcome and singing of the Lord’s prayer was a fashion demonstration set to Donna Sumner’s “Winter Melody.” Several dances were performed by the “Pritchard Street Strut ters.” These young ladies named the group for the area in which they lived—a predominately Black one. One particular standout was little William Burnett. William mimicked “Dancing Machine” and “Strawberry Letter 23.” His forte though, was dancing the robot. As one viewer commented, “He does remind you of Michael Jackson.” At the close of the show, a little girl, “knee high to a duck” drew names for door prizes. Later, club secretary Lillie Burnett said “I’m glad y’all came out and enjoyed the show. We worked hard on it.” Some talent show participants after all has been said and done: everyone came and enjoyed. Staff photo by James Parker. Video interest leads to committee chairmxinship By EDNA BROW.N Staff Writer A year ago, Clarence Burke did some traveling with former Chapel Hill Mjyor Howard Lee as Lee campaigned for lieutenant governor of North Carolina. Burke video taped several of Lee’s speeches with the intent that the tapes would be used in a television commercial. No one made the commercial using Burke's tapes, but he never lost in terest in video taping. Burke, a 21- year-old senior RTVMP and Afro- American Studies major, is currently chairperson of the Video Tape Committee of the Carolina Union Activities Board. ’ Video taping interests me very much, " Burke says while seated in a lounge chair on the second floor of the union. "It’s something I've always liked doing and always wanted to do. I like doing it because it’s fun and it’s good experience for me. i became interested in video taping during high school. I’m from A^rdeen (N.C.), and my father is assistant principal of the high school there. Being assistant principal, he did a lot of things like checking the school buses. He also was head of the Audio Visual Department of the high school. ' People wanted him to video tape a lot of school activities, and sometimes he wouldn’t have time to tape all of them. He would always tell me to come and help him. I started making a lot of tapes, and learned how to use all of the equipment. Pretty soon, I enjoyed doing it. "When 1 heard about the opening for chairperson of the Video Tape Committee here, I knew 1 wanted to do it. Last year the committee wasn’t that active because the guy who was chosen as the chairperson couldn’t work that much. He had a heavy course load. Bishetta Merritt from the RTVMP department told me about the opening then, but I was pledging (Omega Psi Phi) and knew I wouldn’t have the time. So, I waited until this year. •'I was interviewed by the president of the Union Activities Board and the associate director of the union. They asked me a lot of questions. One was as a Black, could I cope with the other members on the board. Could I socialize with them? Of course I told them yes. There hasn’t been any negative reactions towards me because of my appointment. "Now, I’m also a member of the Union Activities Board because I’m chairperson of the Video Tape Committee. There are eleven com mittees responsible for the different activities of the union. Each chair person of the committees makes up in the dorms. We usually show pre recorded tapes. The Video Tape Committee really hasn’t produced any tapes yet. ‘The committee uses a small portion of the union budget. I order the tapes from different companies. Mainly they’re from the Video Tape Network, and I keep the tapes for seven days. During this time, the dorms can use them. We’ve shown tapes such as the “Keystone Cops” and the one of Richard Pryor. There isn’t any charge to see them. “I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from the program. People loved the Burke’s advice: Blacks should stop complaining about the union not bringing any Black entertainers, and become committee members and chairmans. Whites can only suggest what they think we want. I enjoy music. I play the guitar. I’m also interested in photography, and I just like hanging around and being with people. “I think that while we’re at this university, we should do as much as we can. My major is very time con suming, still I try to do other things. My sophomore and part of my junior year, I worked at WXYC, then WCAR. I also used to be a disk jockey at home. We’ve got to be part of the university more than just academically. “In the future, I would like to go into television production. Maybe one day I’ll own my own television station, and I know that the ex perience I’ve had here is going to help me achieve this.” Faculty the Union Activities Board. So, the board has eleven members, and we meet once a week. I’m the only Black member of the board. " I try to encourage Blacks to join my committee and others. We, as Blacks, are always complaining about the union not bringing any Black entertainment on campus. We should join some of the committees and chair some of them so that we can suggest who we want to perform here. The white members can only suggest Black entertainers that they think we would like. "1 have about ten people on my committee. Four of them are Black. They are Roscoe McClain, Diane Ramsey, Willie Gartrell, and James Parker. •"My committee has been doing a lot this semester, and I hope that we can do even more next semester. When I got the position, I had a lot of goals in mind and still do. 1 want us to make some promotional tapes for coming events at the union. I also want us to set up a permanent place to make the tapes. ■"One goal that has already been reached is the showing of video tapes Richard Pryor tape. When I showed it here in the union, the place was packed. Usually during the week at 2:00 p.m., I run a tap)e in the second floor lounge, which used to be the Music Gallery, of the union. I run the tape on a video beam projector. On weekends, the video tapes are usually shown on south campus. "‘Because I am chairperson of the committee, I got to do some traveling this year. I went to Charleston and Columbia, S.C. to a national con ference. It was really an educational experience for me. I exchanged ideas with others who had jobs similar to mine, and I got to meet a lot of in teresting people. “Since I’ve been on the Union Activities Board, I’ve also had the opportunity of meeting some of the performers that the board invites to come here. I had the pleasure of eating at the Carolina Inn with Nikki Giovanni when she was here. I really felt good. We talked about “SDtar Wars”, and she was very nice. I didn’t want to talk to her about poetry because everybody else had. " Although I enjoyed wOTking with video tapes, I do have othef interests. (Continued from page 3) that the press would not project the ac tivity as a negative event. “This is what happened. The protest was picked up by the media and used to give the incident a very negative view. I think that more preparation should have been done in the form of news releases and news conferences to let the public know and to make the media aware of the position the BSM was taking. And then, a follow-up with the protest. The media is a very powerful tool and we must learn to use it to our advantage.” Black Religion (Continued from page 2) much for the Spirit that day. You’ll just have to wait until the next week.” Dr. Edwards went on to say that in American society, everything a Black person touches seems to become less than it was. He said that included religion. “In 1977, even Black students want to know how do you justify Black theology,” explained Edwards. “'You never ask how one justifies German, Continental or British theology. But when one says “Black relipon’.-.yoa^ . gjot to- have a. defi^tioni^V/*‘'"‘‘ • • -
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 22, 1977, edition 1
5
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75