BLACK INK
The essence of freedom is understanding
VOLUME 12. NUMBER 4
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
BIACK
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OF Fl( lAI. NEWSPAPER
OCTOBER 1,1979
Renwick says
he was quoted
out of context,
ALLEN JOHNSON
Staff Writer
The Daily Tar Heel says he said one
thing. Dean Hayden Renwick and a host of
witnesses say he did, too, but not in the
context in which it appeared.
The “it” in question is a quote which ap
peared in the Aug. 27 Tar Heel story con
cerning Black Pre-Orientation.
“These crackers have t>een taking af
firmative action and trying to shove it out
the window,” DTH reporter Shannon Bren
nan quoted Renwick as saying. Renwick
says the statement was quoted out of con
text.
“I was trying to impress upon them the
fact that you're going to make a mistake if
you don’t realize certain things now,” he
says. “I was telling the audience how a
brother who heard me speak last year
whispered to his friend, this nigger’s
crazy’.”
Renwick continues; "Then I said, ‘(Like
that brother) you're also not going to
believe what I said just like you're not go
ing to believe that these crackers are try
ing to throw affirmative action out the win
dow.”
Brennan says, however, that she stands
by what she wrote. “The word ‘nigger’
came out in a joking manner,” she says.
“He (Dean Renwick) said the word
‘cracker’ in a heated manner. I think that
was a difference.”
When asked why the word “cracker”
was quoted and Renwick’s numerous
references to the word “nigger” were not,
Brennan says, “Maybe it was because I
was the only cracker there.
Black Student Movement Chairperson
-'rV''
William Bynum was one member of the
Pre-Orientation audience who felt that
Renwick’s statements were
misrepresented. “When she (Brennan) us
ed the word ‘cracker’ she used it without
being fair,” he says. “I think she could
have used more judgment. The quote took
precedence over what the article was
about.”
The DTH article was followed by an
editorial cartoon on Sept. 5 which depicts
Dean Renwick munching “Honky” brand
crackers and musing: “Oh well, better this
than crow.” The cartoon appears to have
enraged some black students and confused
some others. “A lot of black students
didn’t know what ‘eating crow' meant,”
says DTH Assistant Managing Editor
David Squires.
However, cartoonist Bob Fulghum says
he will not explain what he attempted to
say with the drawing.
“The cartoon ought to stand for itself,”
Fulghum says. “If 1 had to explain every
time someone didn't understand a cartoon
or story, it would be too much trouble.
“There are channels for people's opi
nions, i.e. letters or people coming to see
me personally.”
Meanwhile, Renwick says that he hopes
the issue of minority enrollment is not
overshadowed by the controversy stirred
by the DTH quote and cartoon.
“Personally, I just refuse to get into an
argument (concerning the quote),” Ren
wick says, “l)ecaus€ it takes away from
the charges. It’s a side issue.
“1 have used the same two words in
speeches for the last seven years. Why this
year do they try to single it out?”
Black
florist in
Chapel HiU
MYRABLUE
Community Editor
Mahogany Florist, located on 400 W.
Rosemary Street, is the first black-
owned florist shop to open in Chapel Hill
in ten years. Owned by David Hinds,
the shop has been in operation for one
year.
The owner, who is originally from
Guyana, South Africa, has lived in the
United States for thirteen years and ter
minated his employment at Memorial
Hospital last week to work at the florist
shop full time.
Hinds is in the process of setting up a
partnership and has hopes of expanding
the shop. Also, in the very near future,
he will obtain ownership of the Carolina
Cab Company.
Since opening. Hinds has expressed
satisfaction how the business has pro
gressed. He has sold flowers for such
on-campus functions as the Que
Cabaret. Coronation Ball, and
Honorary Clubs. He has donated
flowers for the Upendo Sunday morning
HE\DS
worship services. Other than this, he
serves the black funeral home and wed
dings. The florist is accomodated with
the nationwide RBF wiring service.
“I felt there was a need for a black
florist in Chapel Hill, as there is a need
for many black things,” .said Hinds,
“but I don’t mean this in the sense that
there should be more black-white com
petitiveness,” he said.
The florist shop sponsored a Black
Arts Festival on Saturday, September
22. Hinds stated that he would like to
see a closer relationship between the
blacks on campus and the blacks in the
community.
Isabel Letelier, Chavis and Michael Moffitt
Chavis receives award
ELIZABETH OTWELL
Special to the Ink
The Reverend Ben Chavis, imprisoned civil rights activist and member of
the Wilmington 10, recently received the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights
award. The award was presented during morning services at the Russell
Memorial Church in Durham.
The award was established by the Institute for Policy Studies in honor of
Orlando Letelier, former Chilean ambassador to the United States, and Ronni
Moffitt, worker at the Institute. The two were killed in September of 1976 by a
bomb planted in [^teller’s car.
Letelier’s widow, Isabel, and Moffitt’s widower, Michael, presented the
award to Chavis, who was to have received it last September. However, ac
cording to a spokesman for the Institute, “North Carolina officials refused to
allow (Chavis) to leave prison briefly to accept it.”
Although Chavis, the only member of the Wilmington 10 still in prison, will
not be eligible for parole until January 1980, he has limited leave to study for a
divinity degree at Duke University and preach at the Russell church twice a
month.
Chavis, who is not allowed to speak directly to the press, accepted the award
“with deep humility and gratification” but with the commitment to the human
rights struggle that “I will not rest, I will not sleep, I will not bow down . . . un
til our struggle is one common struggle.”
“Reverend Chavis has been in the forefront of the selfless struggle to win full
human rights for blacks,” said Moffitt, “and even in the midst of his own great
difficulties as a political prisoner, he was one of the first American religious
leaders to denounce the suffering inflicted on the Chilean people.”