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April 20, 1988
News
When the minority becomes
the m^ority, what happens
to your pubiic schoois?
by FRED GORHAM
Staff Writer
This question was recently address
ed by Dr. Floretta McKenzie in Memorial
Hall, relating to education policies in the
public school systems. Her experience ex
tends from her bachelor’s, master's, and
doctorate degrees and her previous posi
tion as Superintendent of Public Schools
in the District of Columbia from 1981 to
1987.
Dr. McKenzie gave an enlightening
speech on the topic, “what is best for the
children.” Today’s society, she said, is
speaking more of excellence instead of
equity, and excess and equity are shrink
ing. Though there are divisions by in
come, race, and ethnic groups in this
society, in many of our school districts,
the minority is becoming a majority. The
class of the year 2000, which is now in
kindergarten, is predominately black.
Dr. McKenzie predicts by the end of
the century, one-third of the population
will be black, but a majority of them will
be unable to read or write well. Of the
children in this country, 20% of them live
in proverty, and 43% of the people in
black and hispanic communities live in
poverty.
According to Dr. McKenzie, “This
nation is facing a severe trisis in educa
tion. We have to be aware of^e danger
of some of the reform movements, \^ose
efforts to help minorities have been un
coordinated. We must resolve the dif
ferences among the people of this coun
try. If the differences are not solved, well
that means more uneducated black men
will be stuck in the lower classes. More
minorities are completing high school, but
the decision to attend college is steadily
decreasing. Of the high school students
who chose to attend college, last year on
ly 1.3% of those who received Ph.D.’s
were black for the predominately black
and white colleges.”
The number of drop-outs is very
high. Dr. McKenzie believes that the pro
blem stems from the lack of parent in
volvement and the need for counseling,
tutorials, or the proper role model. “Most
children don’t do what we say — they do
what they see us do,” she said. Parent in
volvement of any kind will increase stu
dent achievement because every student
who dropped out says it was because no
one cared.
At the Conclusion of the speech, she
answered questions from the audience,
and a student asked why she thought the
number of minorities are decreasing at this
university. Her theory; “Some of the
minorities are losing hope, and the ex
perience tires them out. We are not
reaching out to each other. Finally, we
must do some risk-taking and put these
issues on the table.”
BSM
Rally
by DAWN GIBSON
Staff Writer
“What’s the purpose of having black
students here if you're not going to help
them. Do you just want to fill the quota?”
asked Jamesse C. Alson, UNC
sophomore from Raleigh.
Alston was one of over 400 black
students who gathered in front of South
Building Tuesday to protest the proposal
by Gillian Cell, dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences. Alston said that black
students are here for the same reasons as
everybody else in getting an education,
and on campus the Office of Student
Counseling is a source of help to minori
ty students who want to get involved in
the decision-making on campus.
Alston has become involved with
many programs involving black students.
One such program is Decision Days,
which is set up for high school students
to decide between the colleges to which
they’ve been accepted. This year's Deci
sion Days program happened to be
scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday
after Tuesday’s heated rally.
“I’m not going to camouflage what's
going on here at the University,” Alston
said. “I will, however, encourage black
students not to allow themselves to be held
back for any reason. If we’re willing to
work hard, strive to reach our goals, and
keep abreast of issues concerning us, then
success is attainable.”
Newly elected Black Student Move
ment Vice-President Tonya Blanks said
that Cell responded after the rally to BSM
President Kenneth Perry in a letter stating
the retraction of the proposal. Blanks also
said that had the Office of Student
Counseling been restructured, programs
that normally come through the office
would have to go through a hierarchy to
which black students were opposed.
“1 think black students on this cam
pus know that when banding together we
can make a change,” Blanks said. “It was
important to see what the results were.
Continued on page 3
Biacic pubiisher says struggie isn’t
over
by GERDA GALLOP
Staff Writer
One of the most respected journalists
in the community of Durham, N.C. is
Vivian Austin Edmonds, publisher of The
Carolina Times, a black weekly
newspaper.
Edmonds was born and grew up in
Durham, N.C. She earned a bachelor’s
degree in English and a master’s degree
in guidance counseling from North
Carolina College, which was later re
named North Carolina Central University.
She has been recognized for her
outstanding public service to the Durham
community and has been honored by the
Young Women’s Christian Association
with its Silver Medallion Award, the Liv
ing Legacy Celebration Award from Shaw
University, and the Durham Committee
on the Affairs of Black People Award, to
name only a few.
Edmonds is an active member of the
North Carolina Black Publishers Associa
tion and the National Newspaper
Publishers Association. She is also a
member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Inc. and serves as the national journalist
for The Links, Inc., a national organiza
tion of women.
This spring she will be honored by
the School of Journalism at the Universi
ty of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where
a scholarship for minority sophomores
who are journalism majors has been
established in her name.
The Carolina Times is a black week
ly newspaper founded by Edmond’s
father, Louis E. Austin, in 1927. She has
been involved with the newspaper over the
past 55 years, having worked in every
department.
“I’ve done everything — janitor in
clude'',” Edmonds said.
After her father died in the early
1970's, Edmonds was forced to “either
get in the paper or sell,” she said, so she
took over as publisher full-time in 1975.
Edmonds worked at The Carolina
Times even as a child, when she sold
newspapers and wrote “The Kiddie Col
umn” which chronicled the social events
of Durham’s younger set.
Louis Austin was an independent-
minded entrepreneur who recognized the
need for a black weekly in Durham.
“My father was the crusader type
who wanted to do something about in
justice,” Edmonds said. “He felt a
newspaper was a good way to get the
word out about this injustice.”
The Carolina Times operates with a
small staff of primarily freelance writers
and has an approximate circulation of
5,300 readers. However, because some
subscribers will “pass along” their
newspapers to friends and relatives, cir
culation figures can be deceptive, Ed
monds said.
“This is a phenomenon that has
always existed in the black community,”
she said.
Edmonds’ paper publishes stories
about topical issues of local, national, and
international interest. She stressed that she
does not allow her reporters to use The
Carolina Times for personal gain.
“This paper has never sold its soul,”
she said. “We’ve suffered all kinds of
abuses, but no one has ever bought our
columns.”
In addition, Edmonds cites one of the
reasons for the decline of the black press
was because after its founders died, many
of their successors, in essence, sold their
souls.
“My father instilled in me the attitude
that I was somebody and taught me the ad
vantages of independence,” she said.
“Blacks seem to have internalized second-
class citizenships, and they need to stop
calling themselves minorities. I belong to
a majority — I am not minor, less than.”
In response to the problem of the lack
of minorities in the media, particularly
blacks, Edmonds said; “We've got to be
two to three times better than whites.
Young black people don't realize the
struggle isn't over yet.”
Edmonds credits her survival and
prosperity in the unpredictable business of
newspaper publishing to personal
sacrifice.
“Considering that black people have
risen from the oppression of slavery and
have gotten where they are required
physical, mental, social and financial
sacrifice to get it going,” she said. “We
can do anything we want to do, but if we
want to dance to the music, we must pay
the piper.”
For minority students considering the
media profession, Edmonds suggested
they first find out who they are and what
their purpose is because they will need to
be twice as good as whites to equal up.
She advised students to start with a
small weekly newspaper where they can
get into every aspect of its production and
hone their skills to then be able to move
up to larger newspapers.
One of the problems Edmonds has
faced is the lack of preparedness of her
Continued on page 3
Tfie
C(ass oj
1988