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Page 2 Black Ink November 5. 1984 In Perspective Claude Allen Betrays Race By Helping Helms 4he6an(£ 600 3?f t6 Supporifecl in ^u-th mrtox bti HJie. ntted '^oteS, by John Hinton Columnist Benedict Arnold would have been Claude Allen's best friend. But like Arnold, a general who betrayed George Washington's Con tinental Army in 1779, Allen is destin ed to fail in his current role as Sen. Jesse Helms' Black 'token' press secretary. Despite Allen's position, an at tempt to attract Blacks to the 'Prince of Darkness' road show, I don't think Helms will be getting most Black North Carolinian's souls this Nov. 6. Allen, a 1982 graduate of the University, maintains he took the job with Helms' campaign because he agrees with the senator's conservative position. When I interviewed him earlier this year, he insisted, "I was hired because I was gualified to do the job." Up until a few years ago, there weren't any Blacks in the Helms campaign. I wonder what changed his mind. Others have also guestioned his motives for working with the senator and his hiring. More than once. I've heard people say he's doing it for the money--but at a reported salary of $24,000 a year, I'm not sure. Whatever the reasons, Allen seems to be doing a great job for the Helms campaign. For example, last year. Helms received national attention when he opposed the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Helms said King might have been a communist, and Allen agreed saying there is am ple evidence to back up the Helms claim. "King was instrumental in the civil rights movement," Allen ex plained to the public and the press. "It would be a disgrace to the holiday if it was proven that he was a com munist. That would be an embarrass ment to all Blacks." The way Claude sounded. King was Mr. Anti-America and Helms is the country's savior—despite the fact that Helms has done no favors for people's civil rights in this state, or any other state for that matter. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Allen got company. Former pro foot ball player, Rosie Grier, and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, joined Uncle Jesse's band wagon and appeared in statewide television commercials telling everyone that Helms' experience was impressive. My reaction: Wake up boys—you guys are embarassing to all Blacks. In view of Uncle Jesse's past civil rights record and current stance on the King holiday, you guys come off as the resident 'house niggers.' Of the interesting family of Helms supporters, one Hunt staff worker said, "There were Jews who sided with Hitler also." As far as I'm concerned. Black people have some interesting traitors...and I won't be doing any business with them. On the other hand, I can't say I dislike all or most Republicans. Blacks are 900,000 strong in the Republican Party. This is a free democratic country and they should do what they please. Indeed, lest we forget, the Grand Ol' Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln--one of the best Republicans to exist. The party may be a little off track in terms of Black people and civil rights, but a few GOPers are good guys. I may even vote for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Martin. But Helms is a different story— and I lose all respect for Blacks who will vote for him this November. Allen, Grier, Lemon and all the other Black people who like to beat themselves should remember the adage: "When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas." The whole gang should start scratching pretty soon. Albertina Smith Editor in Chief Cheryl Williams Features Editor Rhonda Hubbard Managing Editor Sharyn McCombs Business Manager Kevin Washington Assistant Editor Denise Moultrie Photography Editor Barry Carson Advertising Manager 0 Z) oo a by Karen Hatch To The Editor The motto on the masthead of Black Ink, the official newspaper of the Black Student Movement at UNC states: "The essence of freedom is understan ding." How true. I wonder if columnist John Hinton considered this noble mot to when he wrote "The Opposition is Helms," which appeared on the editorial page of the Oct. 18 edition. After reading "A Lot Of People Have Been Born Bums-Twenty Years Of The Words Of Senator No," Jesse Helms," Hinton concludes that he can think of no "politician in the country who dislikes Blacks more than the ultra conservative senator from North Carolina." He accuses Helms of spouting "mindless dribble" about Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement ment and thus waging a prolonged campaign of "character assassination." Hinton should know that the North Carolina Independent which publish ed the book despises Helms with as much passion as the Landmark adores him. If Hinton would take the time to look through the shelves of your magnificent Davis Library, he might come to a truthful understanding of King and the en tire civil rights movements he writes about. Thumb through the books on aisle E-185 on the fourth floor. A cursory ex animation will reveal detailed information, books like The Communist Position On The Negro Question, The Black Experience In American Politics, Com munist Revolution In The Streets and It Is Very Simple, a book I highly recom mend to anyone who is curious about the role Communists have played in all phases of the various Black movements in America. I'm not saying Blacks invited Communists in. Quite the contrary. But from the days of the Scottsboro Case right up to the present, dedicated Communists have attempted to use the civil rights struggle as a vehicle for advancing socialist revolution in America. For example. Hunter Pitts O'Dell was iden tified as a high-ranking, active member of the U.S. Communist Party all through the 1940s and '50s. He became one of King's closest advisors during the last eight years of King's life. He even wrote a number of King's speeches. Today, O'Dell is Jesse Jackson's foreign policy advisor and works with Opera tion PUSH. And you wondered how Jackson could get prisoners released so easily from communist jails, or why he received a hero's welcome in the streets of Havanna and Managua. On pages 208-209 of "NAACP" by Warren St. James, you can read where the NAACP was forced to list entire branches that were totally taken over by Communists. They had to clean house. And I don't think any knowledge person would argue that W.E.B. Dubois, Benjamin J. Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Huey Newton or Eldridge Cleaver were not solidly in the Communist camp. Their writings are in Davis. Just read the stuff. I have a high regard for the truth. (Does it matter to anyone else?) That's what Universities and the press are supposed to be about. And it upsets me when Jesse Helms keeps getting smeared because he refused to ignore the truth about Martin Luther King: the man was surrounded by Communists! You can ignore that truth. You can argue it doesn't matter. You can pull the offen ding books off the library shelves and burn them. But if you honor truth then stop repeating the lie that Senator Helms was fabricating fiction about King's past--simply because Helms is a racist. Remember Mr. Hinton: "the essence of freedom is understanding." And our opposition isn't Jesse Helms, it's ignorance. Gordon Gray Ipock Writer, N.C. Landmark
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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