March 31. 1W2
News
5
Two Black Dorm Residents Find Noose on Door
By Jacqueline Charles
Associate Editor
When two UNC students
returned from Spring Break a few
weeks ago, they found an
unexpected guest-- a noose hanging
on the door of their South Campus
dorm room.
Two days later, Corey
Sturdivant and Melvin Browning
of258 Hinton James Hall, received
a letter signed by Bill Russell, a
person claiming to be the grand
master of the Superior Order of the
Holy Cross.
“The letter was apologizing for
the noose on the door and said it (the
noose) was meant for a suitemate
who had been initiated into this
group, which I took to be the KKK,”
said Sturdivant, who with his
roommate are the only blacks in the
suite.
Although the two sophomores
said they viewed the noose as a sick
joke, the letter was an indication
that things had gone too far.
“That was definitely racial
harassment and I didn’t find it
funny,” said Sturdivant, a speech
communications major from
Lilesville.
Browning, a RTVMP major
from Stanton Island, N.Y., agreed.
“When you consider the
historical significance of the noose
to black men in the South, it’s damn
insulting,” he said. “People were
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killed unlawfully and you consider
it a joke.”
Although the University police,
dean of student offices and the
housing department were notified
of the incident, a lack of evidence is
making it difficult to find out who is
responsible, Hinton James Area
Director Bill Latham said.
Two weeks ago, Latham sent a
letter to all James residents
reminding them of University policy
on racial harassment.
“Also, we hoped with the letter.
See INCIDENTS, page 12
■KMibi
Wonderboy!
column revolting,
divisive
To the editor
Rarely does anything as vile as
Wonderboy! make it into print
John McCann may be a rational
human being, but he certainly does
not masquerade as one in the
column, which surpasses itself week
after week with its revolting, low-
level divisive diatribe. A particularly
disgusting sample comes from the
Feb. 18 column on Mike Tyson.
Wonderboy says, in all his
insight about Desiree Washington,
for “her to leave with a man of
Tyson ’ s character and go to his hotel
room at 2 o’clock in the morning
tells you that she ain’t nothing but a
high-priced-ho’.” He also
repeatedly calls black women
bitches and other derogatory terms.
He seems to have a fascination
with rape, falling to the fallacy that
it is an imagined problem, a made-
up crime. In the March 24 column,
Wonderboy decides that “Did Black
Brother X rape her—probably not
However, being a female. Soul
Sister X has the privilege to say
so...Also, realize that females have
the upper hand in the bootie-
business.”
I won’t even insult readers by
trying to explain why this is insane,
why this is a prime example of
stupidity. Anyone with the power
to reason can figure it out.
Wonderboy obviously does not have
this ability.
Perhaps Wonderboy will jump
to his defense and say that he is
merely playing Devil’s advocate,
that he really does not believe the
drivel that he writes. Maybe he is
trying to encourage dialogue and
spur a reaction.
If so, he fails miserably. Acting
and writing with the mind of a
deranged 10-year-old with no sense
of morals or justice is not the way to
encourage thought. It is a sorry
attempt.
Certainly he has the right to write
and think as he pleases, and to
publish his views. But by voluntarily
running that column. Black Ink
sends a message of intolerance and
sexual frustration with every issue.
Black Ink becomes identified with
the closed-minded, dogmatic
politics of sexual hatred.
If that is the image that a
magazine for blacks and sunx>rters
of the black community wants to
present, so be it. But don’t wonder
why black men have a bad image
when Wonderboy makes them look
like sex-hungry, mindless lunatics.
And don’t wonder when black
women are repeatedly dehumanized
and degraded. Wonderboy does both
in one fell swoop.
Anu Mannar
Senior
Journalism
Race Relations
Week should
open minds
To the editor:
In response to the DTH article
of March 24 entitled “SARR
speaker unfit for Race Relations
Week,” no, the organizers of Race
Relations Week did not screw up
with their choice of Sister Souljah
as the keynote speaker of the week.
It seems almost tiring explaining
to proponents of the
“establishment’s” methodology the
varied methods of achieving given
goals. Yes, Race Relations Week
did have a purpose to “achieve
harmony in this increasing
multicultural world,” and was “a
chance to further understand and
respect people of all cultures,” and
countless issues from the Arab-
Israeli conflicttoracial significance
in the work place were addressed in
the various workshops. Yet it seems
hard for many to grasp ideals
(presented by Sister Souljah) that
would illuminate innate prejudices
within themselves. Even more
importantly than the stated goals of
Race Relations Week, S ister Souljah
made everyone actually think about
the inequalities present on our
campus and indeed all over the
nation.
Frequently in my experiences
on this campus, I have heard
multiculturalism, racial harmony
and cooperation preached. Yet the
proponents of this utopian
philosophy have an advantage that
the minority presence lacks: respect,
equality and a more than adequate
representation on this campus (i.e.
Board ofTrustees, named buildings,
etc). Multiculturalism, in my
opinion should be the end result, yet
I’ll be damned if 1 cannot celebrate
my African heritage firsL I suggest
everyone take time to do this also.
This is something that the white
majority on this campus must
remember. Race Relations Week is
not or should not fall under a (false)
candy-coated penumbra of racial
harmony, it should also be a chance
for people of different cultures to
express how they feel, and to express
how they would like to be treated.
In reference to the time of the
lecture, the author commented, “It’s
a shame to think such an important
message could have been credited
with much more meaning had it
been delivered at another time.” It
seems universal in this “great
nation” we call America that the
concerns of black people need to be
addressed at “another time.” This
sounds like Chancellor Hardin’s 14-
year delay on a Black Cultural
Center. When is the right time? In
February, when the U.S.
government has set aside a month
for black people to celebrate our
hCTitage?
Like the author writes, “WE
should mean everyone,” not just
African Americans, in reference to
Sister Souljah’s wording, yet it
seems funny, historically (including
present day) that this defense is
only used when the integrity of the
majority is threatened. I, as an
African American know all too well
that feeling. So how does it feel?
Now maybe we have accomplished
something.
Race Relations Week is not just
what one sees on the outside. There
are certain underlying aspects also
to be addressed. If anything, I hope
that the program opened the mind’s
of blacks as well as whites not to
exclude the various other minority
groups. It seems almost superfluous,
like many more before me have
discovered, to explain to society
that everything is not okay. Only
each of us alone can evaluate
ourselves as to what our role is in
regard to race relations. Sister
Souljah candidly and effectively
started us on this ever-so-important
journey. In my opinion, that is what
Race Relations Week is all about.
You can quote me on that. And in
response to the editorial written on
March 25 in The Daily Tar
Heel ,“Sister Souljah’s remark filled
with anti-Semitism,” Hal, give me
a call, I would enjoy the opportunity
to educate you as to what time it
really is.
Michael P. Williams
Sophomore
Political Science/Philosophy